appy Thanksgiving, friends! I hope you are well on your way to polishing off your leftovers, and I hope your house is at least (semi) back to normal! We had a fun, food-centric gathering at our house, with family and friends from various branches and stages...and we loved every minute of it. I thought I'd share some highlights of our holiday with photos from my camera roll! Here we go...
Alex and Mauricio arrived Monday, and since this is the last time they'll be home before the baby arrives, it's been particularly sweet to have them here. Alex is handling this stage of pregnancy like a champ, and if she's nervous or anxious about what's to come, she isn't showing it. I love this photo, because it shows that deep sense of relaxation one gets when they arrive at their parents' house for a holiday. Just plop down, pour yourself into a sofa, and simply...be.
I love starting early in the week and finding any small (or large) thing I can knock out early and check off my list. I knew I wanted to use Agatha and Colette dinnerware for Thanksgiving since they just launched, and I wound up ordering a few sets so I'd have enough! 😊 It took a few dishwasher cycles to get it all washed, and oh my oh my oh my, I love it. Have I mentioned I love plates? I'm not sure I've mentioned that before.
I actually set the table on Wednesday, partly because I was excited to see the new dinnerware on the table, and partly to save myself the effort/rush on Thursday morning. Whitney from Roots + Blooms in Pawhuska delivered flowers I'd ordered (I kept them neutral so they'd complement the dinnerware), and also...hauling plates to the living room counted as exercise for me. Ha! I counted getting out of bed as exercise this week. I needed all the credit I could get.
Ladd and I have been in our house for a little over a year, and it's been such a reminder not to rush the whole "setting up a home" process. You have to live in a space and let it work into your heart and soul a bit before you can figure out what you need here or there. I love finding things as we go and not feeling in a big hurry to fill all the various spots. We just got the rug under the dining table a month or so ago, and you may have seen on social media when we put together our dining chairs just within the last few weeks! The glass light fixture went in over the summer, and I'm still waiting to get a fireplace screen that fits the opening. And there are still plenty of blank walls! Just saying, check back in around March of 2029 and I'll show you more progress. Ha.
This was a fun development! First, I bought myself a smoker for Christmas. I've been wanting one for awhile---and not a big mammoth custom made BBQ smoker that you have to hook up to a trailer hitch and haul around. I wanted one for my porch that I could really dig into and use to make luscious smoked delights when the mood strikes. I knew I wanted to christen the smoker on Thanksgiving (not for the main turkey, but for an alternate) but life got too busy this week and I lamented to Mauricio that I wouldn't get to break it in after all. So of course, my industrious son-in-law decided to jump in and get it going Thursday morning. He's handy like that!
Oh my GOSH, was this turkey amazing! Great job, Mauricio! I think he was surprised by the success of his first smoked bird, and I may have to check the back of their vehicle when they head back to Dallas on Monday. He was looking at this smoker with big eyes, and I know Mauricio enough to know when he is intrigued with a new hobby! (I may have to tell Santa...)
I've had this (absolutely gargantuan) wood board (from my friends Hyacinth and Sandy) for probably five years, and this is the prettiest display that has graced its surface---no thanks to me! Just like the smoked turkey, I had grand plans to try to put together a big board of meats and cheese, but it because clear by Wednesday night that I was running out of time for such things. So Paige grabbed all my ingredients (and got a few of her own) and brought this with her on Thursday morning before guests arrived. Daughters, like sons-in-law, are amazingly handy on busy holidays!
This was right before the meal, and I would like to state for the record that it never once occurred to me to light the candles before the meal. Oh well!! It was a nice thought, Ree. Also, aside from the place settings and the flowers, I kept things pretty simple and didn't add a lot of votives, place cards, props, and so forth. This wasn't to leave room for serving dishes (the food was on a buffet in the kitchen), but more just a reflection of my long cooking to-do list and not making the time to decorate. In a contest between cooking and home decor, you know where my allegiance lies!
There's a video of the buffet below, but I took a photo of my plate so you'd know what was on the menu! (And btw...I was one Agatha dinner plate short, which is why I used my old Spode Woodland china for my trip through the buffet.)
