Our area has been hit with some less than Southern Comfort(able) weather the past week or so, so I've taken advantage of the downtime to catch up on on some blogging. I have about five months of projects and parties to share, so I hope you'll keep checking back in!
Today I want to share with you my tablescape from this past Thanksgiving. I have to admit, it's probably my favorite so far!
As you know, we have hosted Thanksgiving at our home for the last ten years or so. We are blessed to have my parents as well as my two brothers and their families, Gerald's parents, my SIL's parents as well as her two siblings and their families, and then we often have others - family or friends - who may not be able to be with family that year.
Last Thanksgiving I focused on pumpkins for my tablescape. This year, I wanted a more simple and elegant theme. I decided to use apples as my inspiration. The phrase "apples of gold" popped into my head and I went with it.
As a rule, the "ladies" sit in the dining room. This includes all the grandmothers and usually me. Above you can see my dining room tablesetting.
This is the table in my kitchen area. The "men" sit here - granddaddies and my husband. My brothers anchor the couch with the other men of their generation and keep a close eye on the ballgames.
This year, I set a smaller table up in my foyer for the SIL's. I love this little table. Besides the fact that it belonged to a very dear friend, Elizabeth Wright Smith, it's such a neat little table. Check out this post about a special dinner for two, and you can see what it looks like and how it works.
Here's a lengthy view of my centerpiece of apples, fresh green clippings from my tea olive bushes and gold votives. I was going to use sprigs from my camellia bush, but it had been a dry summer (read: drought) and they weren't blooming yet. We had however received a lot of rain in the day or two before Thanksgiving - not enough to prepare the camellias for blooming, but enough to cause my tea olives to bolt. They needed to be trimmed anyway, so I killed two birds with one clipping!
A closer look at my dining room table shows my gold chargers as a base for my "Friendly Village" plates by Johnson Brothers. Although I change the tablescape each year, these plates are a mainstay. I love this pattern! On top are the muslin napkins I made for last Thanksgiving. These are tied up with a couple of cinnamon sticks. Cinnamon is a natural compliment for apples, right? The stemware I used on this table as well as the kitchen table, is "Jamestown" by Fostoria. I was literally driving down the road when I say these at a yard sale and stopped. I know - I have a problem. The flatware on these two tables is "Golden American Chippendale" by FB Rogers.
Here's a closeup of the centerpiece on the table in the foyer. The larger votive holders came from Dollar Tree. I bought them a while back when I did the Life's a Journey" tablescape for a special event at Faulkner last Spring. The small tea light holders came from Walmart nearly 20 years ago. The larger stemmed votive holder came from Caffco several years back.
The stems I used on this table are a vintage pattern called "Woodland" by Fostoria. They were a gift from my Aunt Dale when we married. (Maybe she's to blame for my addiction!)
This closeup of the kitchen table shows the burlap runners I made last year. When planning my tablescapes, I pulled out all the gold I had in my stash. I needed a couple more candle holders, so I picked up these two gold hammered tea light holders at Dollar Tree.
All in all, I only spent money on the apples and those two tea light holders! I bought four $4 bags of apples. Over the next few days, I made a big bowl of Waldorf Salad, and then we ate the rest out of hand!
The kids usually eat on the deck, but the weather forecast was iffy, so I placed the kids at a table in the playroom. I have two six foot long muslin painter's cloths that I bought at Home Depot a while back for a project that has yet to materialize. I used them as tablecloths and then ran a piece of burlap down the middle. I was out of gold chargers, so I borrowed red ones from my mother. I also borrowed the burgundy cloth napkins from her. They pick up the red in the apples a little, don't you think?
The flatware I used on their table is "Abigail" by Hampton Silversmiths. I got it at Target not long after we married. I hand wash it and the other gold pattern I have to keep them from tarnishing or fading.
I also went with my "Sweet Swirl" tea glasses by Noritake. While I'm not overly fussy about kids using my stuff, I just thought they'd be better handled by little hands.
I love Thanksgiving! I feel so lucky that we are able to host it and be surrounded by so many of our friends and family. They are truly the "apples of gold"!
I'm so glad you stopped by my neck of the woods!
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