Feasting Like The Pilgrims

It's November and we are well on our way towards Thanksgiving. I thought I'd share with you our Thanksgiving from last year. Our family celebrated at my sister's house. I have shown you her house before. It sits on the St. Johns river in Jacksonville. We decided to try to have our feast outside. You know, like the pilgrims. Fingers were crossed for the weather and were absolutely blessed with a glorious day.

We are a large bunch. A large and crazy bunch. I have lost count but you can try to count the chairs. We put two very long tables together out on the patio. Draped them both in white cloths and then I cut two burlap runners for the middle of the table. We fringed the ends.

The center pieces were 3 rectangular galvanized planters that were filled with potted mums, croton leaves and wheat. It was cheaper to just buy potted plants then to buy cut flowers. I think I paid .99 for each small mum and 1.99 for the large ones. The small pots fit right in there. The large mums were cut and put in jars of water and then inserted in the planters. The leaves were free and the wheat I had. The leaves really help fill them out and give them added color. It really isn't that hard to put together a large decorative table with a small budget. Just look to nature to lend a hand.

The silverware was wrapped in the napkin very casually and tied with a jute ribbon with a silk leaf tucked behind. We used some plaid ribbon when we ran out of jute. The kids wrote all the names on the tags, trimmed the tags with some skinny self adhesive ribbon and tied them all up for us. They had to earn their food.

My sister found this garland at Home Goods. It's all sorts of nuts, twigs and small pine cones. They are a little hard to see in this shot but I wanted to show them. See those bamboo folding chairs? One of my sisters found them at an estate sale for a ridiculous price of like $5.

The we sat under this huge old oak tree. The food was under the tent so that nothing fell on it. The dishes were stacked there with the food so you just load up your dish under the tent. It was a lot easier then trying to pass the food around the table. That would have taken forever. The drinks were set on the smaller tables you see off to the side.

The dessert table was inside. Dessert is just craziness. Everyone brings something different so there was quite the variety. To decorate this table we had two large cake stands and each one had a tall glass hurricane on it with small pumpkins, leaves and pine cones around it. We just tied some pretty plaid ribbon on the tops. We had so many mums we put some in the center. The pitcher is filled with some spiced cider punch which was very good.

my lousy picture above but I wanted to show the whole table

Thanks Justin for getting these shots to me with only three hours of sleep. Such a good kid. If you are in the Atlanta area and need any photographic services then you can contact him at JustinHadleyPhotograhy.com.

I also forgot to put my answers to our Halloween costumes. I'm sure you all are on the edge of yours seats wondering. Erin from LikeGrandmas was the first to answer correctly with Deviled Eggs and Pigs in a Blanket. Yes, we were the appetizers for the party :)

Joining up with the CSI project to share Thanksgiving ideas.

Also with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

Linda @ Coastal Charm

see you later,