Farmers' Market Thanksgiving 2019
Every family meal I prepare begins with a theme. Thanksgiving is no exception, and you can look at my past Thanksgiving meals by searching my site. For many years, the Thanksgiving feast table was set with my Johnson Brothers china. I have 24 place settings of His Royal Majesty, because the Thanksgiving meals in our home included lots of extra people ... always family, but maybe more especially ... university students who couldn't get home for the short break!
In recent years, however, I've switched the tablescape themes! I love my old traditional china, but using it also places foremost in my mind ... the memories of of my parents and my husband. Grief is cutting on holidays, so I prefer to move forward with occasional changes. This year, when my planning was turning in my mind in August, I found these adorable plates at Hobby Lobby. I knew I could build a very unique theme around this guy!
We'd spent the summer enjoying farmers markets. My daughter did cooking demonstrations at the new (tiny) market established in our hometown, and I fell in love with new vendors, including a couple German vendors, in the community where I work. As a result, my freezer is filled with vegetables and my hoard of fall harvest vegetables is bountiful! Theming our Thanksgiving dinner "Farmers' Market Thanksgiving" seemed a natural. Every vegetable on our table came from a Farmers' Market.
I love to give credit to that Pioneer Woman for this dinnerware! I love her, but when she first came onto the scene, I proclaimed that I would not buy anymore dishes because I had too much already! Big fib! I love this cobalt blue rim on these plates. The 'Bohemian' style of the pattern is just 'me'! With the place setting plan made, I began to think about the centerpiece, which I actually make on the end of the dining table!
I started digging through the turkey stash in storage and grabbed these Mexican folk art painted little candle holders. Then came the very large painted metal bird ... lots of color on him! My blown glass pumpkins in unusual colors ... and I never have problems with the flowers ... because I have arrangements and extra silk pieces stored away for the perfect party scape! Finding flowers that matched the pattern of the plates was easy!
Take a look at all this color!
Yes! The pumpkin soup bowls are bright red
and sunshine yellow!
I chose these PW place mats because of the cute pocket. Sure made setting the table a quick job! The napkin and flatware wer just tucked inside the pocket! The glassware is also PW - Dazzling Dahlias pattern that matches the dinnerware!
I always use menu cards of some kind for special dinners. I decided to roll the menu paper and tie it with raffia ribbon. The graphic on the menu page is a line of Farmers' Market booths painted in a contemporary design.
Each year, after cooking all day ... or for additonal days ... I ponder what we actually eat! The answer is simple ... turkey, dressing and pie! If that was the whole menu, everybody would be happy! This year, Phoebe asked that the mashed potatoes be placed beside her on the table! She proclaimed that she was eating turkey skin and mashed potatoes! My son-in-law is always the first to clean his plate and ask for pie! I am always the last to clean my plate, but pie is my favorite too! My daughter falls someplace in between! It doesn't surprise me that Phoebe always wants turkey skin! I really load it up with seasoning ... sometimes fresh herbs ... but always spices with a kick.
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoyed my post and please don't forget to check my sidebar for blog parties! Click through to see what others did this year to celebrate Thanksgiving!
