Thanksgiving Table

If I had to choose a favorite holiday, Thanksgiving would be it.  I love Thanksgiving with its cozy food and time with family.  Living far away from my parents, sisters & brothers, I have made my own family tradition to travel home and visit each Thanksgiving. It's a warm season,  an opportunity to revisit old memories and create new ones with my kids.  For me, Thanksgiving hasn't held the hype and pressure that comes with some other holidays.

Until this year.  My husband's family moved close by and he wanted to host a family Thanksgiving at our house -- before we left town. A little crazy? Yes. But I love him and we do our best to support each other so here goes.

We were lucky enough to inherit his Grandmother's china, which he wanted to use.  He promised to wash all the dishes and had a strong argument of, "if not now, then when." He was right, and I now had an excuse to go shopping.  I need glasses, silverware, table lines...

I wanted it to be simple and relaxed but elegant.  It turned out to be just that with an eclectic mix of china and glassware matched with earthy fall linens.  I stole an idea off Pinterest for simple candle holders made of mason jars and raffia. We set up in our glassed-in patio, turned on white Christmas lights and burned a fire in our wood stove. In the end it was everything I love about Thanksgiving.