Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving

T'was the night before Thanksgiving and our guest were arriving at dinner time after a long drive.  I wanted to greet them with a pretty table, but I wanted it different from our Thanksgiving table, which was the same as I used last year.  See it here.

I decided to go dark, since the next day was going to be gold and white.  There were lots of pops of color, though.  Here's the sun hitting the table in the late afternoon.

I've been wanting to use this dark brown poly-silk cloth all season.  Can you see the texture of the embroidery?  These flowers are almost like chenille.

And these are so colorful.

Even though I promised myself that I would not buy any more dishes for fall, I wondered into World Market, saw these, and wondered out with eight of them.  Hey!  It happens!!!

Here's why I had to have them.  I've had this guy for years and my favorite way to display him is as a centerpiece.  I did a cream and brown dinner party with him last fall.  You can see it here.

Then a trip to the floral wholesaler provided these flowers.

I used a round oasis ring for the flowers and I love how they echoed the colors in the cloth.

The charger is an old tan, opalescent plate and then the dinner plate was a cream scalloped one from Z Gallerie. 

The dark brown linen napkin looks pretty faded here, but I don't think it really is.  At any rate, the coral wired ribbon and pheasant feathers perked it up.  My much-used brown handled flatware kept this from being too formal.  Silver would have given it a totally different feel.

Someday I'll learn how to photograph glassware.  This is the stem I used for water.  It is etched with maple leaves and acorns.  Then I added a plain Tiffany wine goblet.  Whose hand has all of those sun spots on it?  Yikes!

Three old wooden turned candlesticks were on each end.  Aren't they handsome?

These little pewter salt and pepper shakers are pheasants, too.

After I had taken a lot of shots, I decided to add these bright green tapas plates as bread and butter plates and then placed horn handled fruit knives on each as a butter knife.  Not exactly proper use, but Emily Post wasn't on the guest list.

This is sort of  the cousin of the centerpiece.  It's on a chest in the dining room where I've done a fall vignette with the same colors and feel as the table.  You can see a post here that I did last fall with this pheasant as the centerpiece.

This sort of says it all.  Here's Michael, our very special friend after dinner on Thanksgiving day.  Can you say low-key and laid back weekend?  When I look back on this wonderful weekend, this will forever be my memory.  Not a moment that we didn't thoroughly enjoy!

And here's Michael the next day, sleeping and reading in the rowboat.  This is a busy man who knows how to relax.  How did we get so lucky to have them for friends?

This was an easy menu that was flexible if they were delayed.

Menu:

Double Cranberry Croustini

Roasted Pear Salad

(I've posted this recipe from our New Year's Eve dinner here.)

Chiopinno (Fish Stew)

Hearty Bread

Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake

(from the cover of Nov. '11 Southern Living)

See this post at these fun blog parties:

Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Open House Thursday

http://nominimilisthere.blogspot.com/

Feathered Nest Friday

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Inspiration Friday

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

Fridays Unfold

http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/

Seasonal Sunday

http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

Wow Us Wednesday

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

On the Menu Monday

http://stonegable.blogspot.com/