Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving Reflections

Some Thanksgiving celebrations go smoothly. You have your shopping done the weekend before, the house is clean, and most of the dishes are prepared the day before. All you have to do that actual morning is stuff the bird and put it in the oven to bake while the family starts the day off with a special breakfast. This Thanksgiving was not one of those.  We definitely put the effort into it. But the groceries got bought late, my hubby, who does the most of the cooking, wanted to try a couple new dishes. Errands kept getting in the way, his mom needed his help with shopping and other errands earlier in the week, I worked up through Wednesday, and one thing after another meant that we didn't get anything done early.  We are used to the occasional bumps in planning, so we remained calm and carried on. My hubby left me to make breakfast while he picked up his mom, who does less and less driving on her own. Okay, I can handle french toast and scrambled eggs, my youngest daughter jumped in and breakfast went fairly smoothly.

After we ate, hubby put the bird in the oven and started cleanup. Wouldn't you know it, the sink backed up.  I don't know about other sink configurations, but when ours gets backed up, there's nothing to do but crawl under there and remove the pipes until you have that pesky area just before it goes into the wall cleaned out, that's where the clog usually is.  So that took over an hour, and in the meantime our bird got a bit browner in the skin than we intended. Oops. It was still fine, not quite at the burnt stage yet, we tented it and pulled it out 3 hours later.

With the late start and the plumbing emergency, I didn't get as much done for table decorations as I had originally intended. I did pull down the good china and silverware, but forgot to put out the crystal water glasses I intended, and everyone grabbed a glass from the cabinet, just like it was any other day. Nothing wrong with that. I put up a few decorations as a centerpiece before my family instructed me to remove them, as they were getting in the way of the food. Really, is it just because I haven't done a centerpiece on the table for past dinners that it seems 'in the way' when I attempt it now? We have got to get used to working around it. I suspose that will happen about the same time I get everything together and don't find that I forgot to allow for a butter dish and am passing around a plastic tub of margarine next to the good china. Eventually. We as a family shared a wonderful meal and followed up with a game played with 5 mismatched dice borrowed from 3 different board games. It was a really good day.

As a final note, I found this lovely compote the other day at Goodwill.  It has a light irridescense to it, is an amber color, and I'm wondering if it is Carnival glass. This picture is dark because the lighter pictures didn't show the slight irridescent gleam to it. Anyone know anything about it?  It's probably one of the cheaper productions, I did some research on it, and the patterns on true Carnival glass are very intricate, this one is not nearly as detailed. I still think it falls into the category, although it might be a more recent take on it. Really hard to know for sure, so good thing I like it for itself, and at $15 it didn't break the bank.

I know I'm posting this very late in the game, but considering Thanksgiving was yesterday, and that's when I set the table, for the minor amount I actually set it, this is it. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, no matter how many bumps you encountered along the way.

Linking up with Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

7 comments:

crazymotheringchick said...

Hey, I have a compote just like that! Mine is red, with a clear base, but the design is the same. I got mine at the Salvation Army recently.

Mid-Atlantic Martha said...

What a pretty compote and your sparkly pumpkins are the perfect compliment. I think you did great to get dinner on the table at all -- after all that! Sounds like a wonderful family table.

Frog Hollow Farm Girl said...

Good morning from Frog Hollow Farm! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and leaving such a sweet comment! You know, I loved reading your post today because it reflected the reality of what so many of us experience on a daily basis. My family would have done the same thing as yours, reached into the kitchen cabinets for glasses (and I would be cringing because they didn't match my table decorating efforts) and my family also always tells me to move the centerpieces! LOL - but like you, I think they should figure out how to work around them because the table always looks so barren once the centerpieces or decorations are removed! Today is my day to set up the house for Christmas - my favorite time of year! Ciao, bella!

Fuzzy Slippers said...

Well, it makes for a memorable Thanksgiving (I managed to drop the fresh-out-of-the-oven turkey on the floor. LOL!). :) In the end it sounds like it was a fun day spent with family, so it was a perfect day. The compote is a great find! Thanks for sharing it. :)

Tess said...

You'll certainly have stories to tell about this Thanksgiving!! Sounds like it all turned out fine in the end! Love your dishes and though I know nothing relevant about your glass piece, I do know it is very pretty!

Alycia Nichols said...

Sounds like you had a Clark Griswald start to the Thanksgiving holiday, but I hope it all turned out great for you and your family!!! I think we all hit plenty of speed bumps on the road to the "perfect Thanksgiving dinner", but you made it sound quite humorous! Have a good week!

Entertaining Women said...

Well, at least I know that if the opportunity ever arises, you'll be quite comfortable at my hit and miss table....makes for the best stories in years to come. Thank you for sharing your wonderful experience. Cherry Kay