Usually we join my extended family for Thanksgiving. I have four brothers and two sisters, most of whom make it home to my parent's house for the day, bringing their families, plus my aunts and cousins. Its quite a crowd. Of course we all bring our specialties so the food is fabulous and very abundant. My parents remodeled their house many years ago to include a dining room large enough to accomodate us all because they have always encouraged and enjoyed having the family together. Usually there are twenty-five to thirty of us giving thanks for the traditional turkey dinner.
This year everything is different. Mike still gets tired easily and he has to be very careful about what and how much he eats. The prospect of a long day of travel, and the hubbub of dinner prep amongst and for so many people just seems like too much, although we will miss being with my family. We've decided to have Thanksgiving here at home instead.
It has been quite a while since I have undertaken Turkey Day on my own, even though I will have the support of my dear sister-in-law, who is also a wonderful cook. I think a full scale turkey dinner is pretty hard to bring off well, with everything finished at once, at the proper temperature and nicely presented. I'm reviewing my recipes and planning the menu, but really, I'm most interested in the table.
I was wondering what to do about it...letting possibilities float about in my mind.... until this weekend when our local scarf wholesaler Asian Eye had their pre-holiday clearance sale. I always go to these events just to enjoy being surrounded by beautiful textiles and to check in with my friends there....also I can never resist buying things. This year I found this woolen hand-made and embroidered scarf from India and immediately thought it would be great for the Thanksgiving table. I brought it home and now I'm auditioning my decorative doo-dads to see how the table will come together. I will let you know.