This year we were invited to spend Thanksgiving with our son and his wife in their new house. What a milestone! Joel and Becca bought a fixer upper in the super heated Seattle real estate market a few months ago and have been hard at work transforming it into a home. As someone who only rarely has had to host this particularly demanding dinner, with mixed success, I applauded their ambition and their hospitality and in the spirit of helpfulness, offered to do the table. I was a little worried about being a butinski (that classic mother-in-law pitfall) but was graciously encouraged go ahead. Because they are young and their table is narrow, I decided right away that I wanted to do something "modern". That was the word that rolled around my head, but I'm not sure it is really a good one. What I meant was, a table that combines current trends with simplicity. Becca wanted to use the white dishes she got as a wedding present (this whole meal showcased quite a number of gifts that had been in storage since the wedding, due to their previously unsettled living situation) so I envisioned one of those graphic prints that are so popular now, with white patterns on some background color. I went to my local fabric store and found just what I wanted for a runner: a warm red with a large white pattern that resembled ikat, only it was an outdoor Sunbrella kind of polyester. That slowed me down a little bit, but I decided it would be okay even though I usually turn my nose up at "unnatural" fabrics. I chose a paper bag brown linen for the undercloth and found a red linen that matched exactly for the napkins. Okay. I didn't have too much time to sew all this up, but everything went together pretty well. The polyester was delightfully inert, with no tendency to stretch or wobble as I cut and sewed it. I was confirmed in my suspicion that linen is particularly unstable and that my problems in producing neat edges in linen are not all my fault. For the center I used white pillar candles and apples in straight-sided baskets. I thought they would be narrow enough to fit well on the skinny table, and they were, but just barely.
Becca, with help from everyone but especially her mother Sue and brother Jeff, turned out a spectacular Thanksgiving dinner with an organic turkey, two gravies, two dressings and every classic side dish, including yams, mashed potatoes, green beans with fried onion rings, and brussel sprouts tossed with honey and balsamic vinegar. I was totally impressed and very grateful to share such a splendid feast. We are all especially thankful that our families can come together so smoothly and enjoy each other's company so much.
I hope everyone reading this had as nice a Thanksgiving as I did.