Hi, Friends! I realize I am way late for a Thanksgiving post, considering it has been Christmas in Blogland since Halloween, but I still wanted to quickly share a few things with you. First, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Isn’t it crazy how that was already a whole week ago, but it feels like just a few days ago? I was discussing with someone at a store yesterday how that phrase “slow as Christmas” came along when I know for a fact as an adult it has flown by each year faster and faster!! Or is that just what we say when we get older? Maybe that phrase was referring to eager little children who anticipate the holiday and not for the grown ups that haven’t caught their breath since Halloween?
Each year, we travel to Chattanooga to spend Thanksgiving with my parents, and Mark’s parents usually drive down from Maryville, Tennessee and join us. This year we had my cousin, Scott, and his girlfriend, Any, too. ( Brazilian and pronounced “Annie.” ) Scott lives in Charleston, South Carolina, and teaches at The Citadel. We had alot of fun hanging out with them and took them siteseeing around Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain. Chattanooga is such a fun city! My family moved there when I was in 6th grade and I lived there through my college years at UTC. Oh yeah, back to Thanksgiving!
I had to think quickly for a centerpiece and some accents for the Thanksgiving table, as that’s usually my job since my parents take on the hard job of cooking a huge feast for all of us. I love doing the table and they enjoy cooking, so it’s a win-win! I joked with Mom about her dated 1980-90’s cloth napkins, but when we went out looking for cloth napkins in a neutral color, everything was picked over. Not even kidding. So, I decided to work with the existing napkins and their colors ( with the exception of the hunter green ones…I mean, come on! ) Mark and I ran to Publix for a few things and they had some beautiful Fall bouquets that were not the “traditional” Fall oranges and yellows, but more pinks/fuchsias and yellows. I grabbed a few bouquets, some pinecones, and some Anjou and Bosc pears and headed back to my parent’s to set the table.
My parent’s china is beautiful. I love the simple, yet classic white and gold they chose 51 years ago. It’s Oneida and my Dad got it for my Mom in Japan when he was in the Marine Corp. Mom had placed the dinner plates on some gold chargers she already had, so I worked around the gold accents, as well. I added a few gold pineapple candle holders I found in the china cabinet, made 2 bouquets at each end of the table ( they had both leaves in and it’s a really long dining room table so I like 2 centerpieces ), added some pears between the vases of flowers, and a single pinecone on each dinner plate. I cut name cards out of some ivory notecards my Mom had, wrote each person’s name, punched a hole in each one, then gave it a little finishing touch by adding a little satin piece of ribbon. I’m telling you it was a quick table setting, and I would’ve done some things differently if I had brought some of my own things, but I thought it turned out pretty well for such an impromptu setting. After setting the table and looking at it, I wanted a little more depth, detail, and height in the flower vases, so I added some pheasant feathers and faux artichoke picks to the vases that Mom also already had. ( from Fall through Christmas I use pheasant feathers in so many arrangements, you might have noticed. I love the way their pattern and colors act like a neutral, much like leopard print, and gives great detail and interest )
I LOVE these amber vintage Fostoria glasses my Mom had! She used to have 6-8, but now she’s down to 2. They would’ve been beautiful around the table at each place setting, huh?
A shot of the delicious feast my parents worked so hard to make for all of us……
And the Pumpkin Tart with Whipped Cream and Almond Toffee ( from the cover of November’s Southern Living) that my Dad so beautifully made~ just one of about 5 desserts we had! We had a great holiday weekend with our family eating, watching football, and catching up. I am so thankful to have these people in my life 🙂
I wanted to say I’m sorry I’m a little behind on the blog! I’ve had some great client opportunities that have been keeping me busy, but I hope to catch up and share some of my latest projects with y’all soon. Thanks for being patient with me. I do have a sneak peek at one of the latest projects in my own house for you though! I shared some pictures a few weeks ago on Instagram of this space, but still don’t have it 100% completed yet. I’m waiting on a new brass faucet and trying to decide on a few pictures ( or not ) for the gallery walls. Here’s a BEFORE of the downstairs powder room ( in all it’s faux sage green glory…that I painted almost 12 years ago )
I know. Can you even believe I’m just addressing this guest half bath? Me either…….:0 Shameful! And here is a sneak peek AFTER shot:
This paint color is just gorgeous. It added such a cozy, sophisticated, rich feel to this previous lame little powder room. Ah, the power of paint! I will share the paint color and all the details with you soon! My friend, Stephanie Mellom, and I just finished decorating a client’s beautiful home for Christmas this week. We finished it today and I cannot wait to share that with you either. That post will be the next one, so please come back and see this lovely home in the Vinings area of Atlanta all decked out for the Holidays!
Thanks for stopping by….Til next time! 🙂
xoxo
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