2019, The year of 3 Thanksgivings
Why Three? Why not?!
Typically we do Thanksgiving x2, One at our home with my family from North Jersey and one in Philadelphia with his family. This year, with Q being 1 and having a few new friends in the area his age we threw a Friendsgiving into the mix!
Thanksgiving 1: Morgan’s Family
My husband and I love to host. I love the bustle around our dining room table, the glow of the candles, the smells, the wine flowing, and all things decorating! In anticipation leading up we’ll spend the time before talking about the menu and i’ll start dreaming up a tablescape. I love to start at our dining room table and go from there.
This year, while on a weekly shopping trip at Trader Joes (Where are all my trader Joes fans!?) the most perfect fantasy pumpkin caught my eye. It was August and they had just put them out (for $6.99!) and no way I was letting that one out of my sight. I love when items get multiple use, and it ended up the centerpiece at Q’s first birthday – more to come on that – and I knew i’d build the thanksgiving table from there.
Some of the 300 brass candlesticks we collected for our wedding, they typically make an appearance in each tablescape!
I knew the tones of the pumpkin would pair well with greenery, I had scored a lambs ear wreath from hobby lobby ($19.99 – on sale) and started with the pumpkin placed on top. I then ran a garland down the table and beneath the pumpkin that I had found at Michaels last season. With the true “center” of the table now covered, it was time to fill in the spaces. I always pick up at least 8 mini white pumpkins each season and scatter them around the house, they made a nice appearance in the scape. Some twine pumpkins from home goods ($3.99 for the bag – end of last season sale!) and a few twine balls scattered throughout. We collected 300 brass candlesticks for our wedding (more to come on that) and a few almost always make an appearance on the table. Mercury tea light holders from pottery barn are such perfect fillers to have on hand. They’re neutral enough to use in multiple centerpieces. I love pieces like these that can be used time and time again! The finishing touch was some fresh eucalyptus i bought from Trader Joe’s and put out morning of (They leaves dry up after about 2 days) – added bonus here is the lovely scent of eucalyptus – another sensory piece that reminds me of our wedding day ( it was everywhere! ). I even used the extra leaves to write on as place holders- Quinn even got his own place setting!
Bring on all the Green Bean Casserole!
Thanksgiving 2: Friendsgiving
We’ve never done a friendsgiving before. Through our lives we’ve been lucky enough to both have friends scattered across the three states (PA, NY, NJ) and then some. Moving to a new town one snowy January day 5 years ago was to be completely honest scary, and exciting, and we stayed hopeful to connect with some local people. Life was busy, and work was busier and then one of the most beautiful unexpected things this year has brought with my son were new locally based friends, (mom friends!) Q has two buddies, Freddy and Caleb and they’re all born within a month of one another.
Any opportunity to switch up the tablescape I gladly take. I knew we’d have more company and would need to make room for the kids at the table so i scaled it slightly down and built out from the center choice of a smaller white pumpkin – I love white pumpkins!
I started with the burlap runner- my cats seem to know when I’m about to change the table up and they hop up and lay in the middle of the table- cat scape! Anywho, after the cats rubbed themselves all over the burlap runner it was time to build from the center. Down went the white pumpkin and I pulled the majority of the elements from our first thanksgiving scape over, just toned down the greenery garland and included a few eucalyptus leaves (now dried!) My favorite part of this set up were the place cards, I took wood disks from hobby lobby and first with a white paint pen wrote everyone’s names in white and then wrote over with a black sharpie which gave them a burned in effect! The kiddos even got their own place cards too!
Our best attempt at wrangling 3 toddlers for a picture
Side Note: Speaking of wrangling in the industry there are actual “child wranglers” that you can hire for kids shoots! They bring fun toys and the best energy you’d ever see – they’re incredible!
The Boys
They had a blast playing white Ken carved the turkey! My MIL got Q this play table from a craftsman in Maryland – just like how our dining room table is full of stories, now he’s writing his own.
Thanksgiving 3: Ken’s Family
A turkey we didn’t cook!
Ken did give his “secret” recipe to his dad (it involves a salt rub and a pizza stone!) but this was the perfect way to end the week of thanksgiving three ways!
Thanksgiving day was finally here, even though we’d been celebrating all week long. We started our morning watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade- and by watching I mean glancing at the TV every so often while Q toddled around the house.
After a relaxing morning we headed to mom-mom and pop-pop’s house in Philadelphia for a delicious dinner!
