Giving Thanks

Image via Fiskars

The day is upon us; tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Hosts and hostesses near and far will soon no doubt be planning, scurrying around, sending family members out for last minute ingredients, testing the electrical loads of their houses by running the oven, stove, microwave, air conditioner and fans all day, kids will be hiding from parents so they don't get roped into doing chores, greeting guests (my least favorite task), fluffing pillows, replenishing plates of crackers while everyone munches and leading small-talk conversations.

For us, Thanksgiving is falling at a very hectic time. Not to worry; we'll have plenty of time to catch our breath when we're jobless and homeless in Austin (help!) I'll tell you this: I'm glad I don't have to fly this year, and be subjected to The Gov'ment's Great Junk-Touching Airport Security Experiment! (Hint: turn on the sound)

Dodged a bullet there, for real.

I digress. Thanks to the move and the most outrageous last few weeks of work, I've managed to get exempted from any Thanksgiving-related prepwork and/or participation. I couldn't tell you where our baking paraphernalia is right now and I've been working loooong days, making me pretty useless in the party planning realm. That doesn't mean I'm disinterested in what's going on in Thanksgiving Tablescape Land. Far from it – I'm seeing lots of lovely ideas this year. By now you know I'm not much for overly literal, theme-y decor, with the worst Thansgiving offender being decorating with root vegetables bursting forth from a random horn, por ejemplo:


This one has that we-are-the-world slash kumbaya slash vintage thing working in it's favor, so I'll give it a pass:


I have to admit I am a sucker for glammed-up, gold-flocked root vegetables, which is marginally tacky of me, but I think it's clever:


Wow. I digressed again, and I'm being totally snarks-ville. It's been that kind of month, ok? Forgive me. Onto the point: thanksgiving/fall/harvest-y decorations, of course! Here are some gems:

Image courtesy Martha Stewart

I'll never say no to burlap – or personalized napkins made of burlap:

Image courtesy Country Living


Martha's modern table

Eddie Ross is pretty much the reigning king (queen?) of tabletop styling. He pulls out all the stops every time. This is from a feature in Lonny:



Martha again. I can't help it – she's killing it this year! These cornhusk votives are so ethereal paired with the plum roses


As seen in House Beautiful, featuring Grandin Road wares


Image courtesy Country Living

Let's throw a bone to the kids for good measure. Those poor souls have to sit through the most boring adult conversations tomorrow:

Image from Fiskars

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!