It’s very hard for me to do anything simple and modern looking. It just is. I love to look at trendy simple things: clothes, home decor, scrapbooking pages, patterns….anything. And I love it. But when it comes right down to it, it’s impossible for me to duplicate that look in anything I touch. It starts out simple, but very soon another element creeps in, an extra detail here or there, some brighter color sneaks in….and soon whatever I’m working on is full right up with all sorts of visual junk! Yes, I am a messy person, and it usual shows up even in my “designing” (art, decorating, crafting, junk making, whatever you want to call it). It’s hard to stop myself. I know, I know, I’ve heard: Art is knowing when to stop. And I agree. And I guess that’s where the line between crafty and artist is drawn. All this to say, I felt rather proud of myself for creating (in my mind) a simple modern-looking Thanksgiving table setting this year. It was excruciatingly hard to hold back and not add more and more, but I forced myself and getting some new simple dishes from Ikea helped (and a time crunch helped, too).
Last year’s Thanksgiving table here was more like what I usually do. This year I tried a new color scheme, and I must say I liked it. I just loved the bright colors (that is normal for me) what wasn’t normal was the more simple decorations.
A plain white cake stand, a dried gourd (from Guatemala), a couple of small pumpkins and pomegranates, a few candles, a bunch of purplish carnations and a few green flowers. Yes, it did involve a shopping trip to IKEA for a few things: new blue dishes, a couple of blue candles, purple table runner, purple juice jug and purple serviettes. I had lots of orange things already in my stash 🙂 
No time for place-cards this year, just a few plain wooden leaves from Walmart. I did print out some Thanksgiving things on kraft paper, but we didn’t really use them…..they were to make a thankful paper chain. We were thankful without the craft. The rest of the photos were taken under the dining room lighting so the color looks kind of weird….
I quickly crammed all the flowers into an orange bowl (and left the other non-color-coordinated flowers in the kitchen).
simple but pretty, I thought. And yes, that is an old fashioned jello mold!
For that old fashioned, traditional touch. I enjoyed it, even if few others did! I had made one awhile ago, from an old recipe, then totally lost the recipe!! So this was kinda made from my memory: grated carrot, crushed pineapple, orange gelatin (jello), and a cup of plain yogurt. Does anyone have a recipe like that? It would be nice to have the exact amounts!
My daughter the turkey, I mean, my daughter cooked the turkey this year! She did a good job, though we had a few nervous moments 😉
There was a kids’ table this year, with a few Snoopy treats…very simple (not like the other Peanuts kids’ table)
When the younger kids couldn’t take the wait for supper, we gave them a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving meal. It’s what Charlie Brown and Snoopy served in the classic cartoon: buttered toast, pretzels, popcorn and jelly beans! (It’s starting to be a tradition!)
Another food that is now a Thanksgiving tradition around here is Guatemalan enchiladas! I think this was the day after Thanksgiving, though traditionally they are served on Nov. 1st in Guate. (It was a short weekend with family, so we had to cram a lot of food into it)
Mmmmm good!! I’ll have to post the recipe someday…. 🙂 And so that was our little Canadian, American, Guatemalan Thanksgiving!!
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