This post is sponsored by Pier 1
Thanksgiving has always been a favorite holiday. I know I say that about every major celebration, but truly, Thanksgiving ranks high (like right at the top with christmas and easter). We have the best memories of Thanksgiving from when we were kids – big family gatherings, weekends at my great Aunt & Uncle’s house in their small town, cutting down our christmas tree – and it’s continued to be a time of year that feels festive and filled with tradition even now.
One of the best parts of Thanksgiving happens around the table. The food, obviously, is a highlight. But so is the gathering of family, the conversation and the sharing of gratitude.
We love being together as an extended family and do it as often as possible. To take Thanksgiving dinner from an ordinary family gathering to a special celebration, I love to set a pretty table.
This year, with the help of a few new pieces from Pier 1, the table will be set with a decidedly bountiful feel. Rich, earthy colors, fresh flowers in warm shades of deep orange and dusty pink, leafy branches cut straight from the tree. These organic elements mixed with vintage silver, sparkling wine glasses and cool marble makes for a perfect setting to celebrate Thanksgiving together as a family.
To pull this table together, I started where I always do: classic neutral basics.
White dinnerware is a staple when it comes to setting a table. It works for everyday; it works for special occasions. I prefer a simple shape like these round porcelain dishes and layering them over a gold charger adds just a bit of fancy to their simplicity.
These cloth napkins – with their metallic stitching in a classic windowpane pattern – are so pretty in person. They look great on the table and pick up the gold and warmth used throughout the table. For embellishment, a rustic bosc pear laid over a sprig of greenery feels chic and simple at the same time.
Another classic staple is a good wine glass. On this table, I used stemless glasses which work equally well for water glasses and just one all-purpose traditional wine glass. You wine connoisseur may beg to differ, but I find you really only need one style of glass to serve either red or white wine in. Keep things simple, that’s my motto. These crystal glasses are really nice, have a small bead around the lip and feel sturdy enough to take regular use.
For the center of the table, a gorgeous black marbled stone cheese board filled with all the makings of a tasty charcuterie not only works as a focal point (how pretty are those figs?!) but also functions as an appetizer while we wait for the turkey.
How great is that white marble bowl filled with pistachios? It is a marble mortar & pestal combo that works just as well as a serving bowl. There’s a tip: look around at what you have and see if there are ways to use it unconventionally. A sugar dish for a vase, a breadboard as a tray, a mortar and pestal set as a serving bowl.
Let’s talk about that breadboard used as a tray. This one is petite and the perfect warm wood tone. It adds a bit more of that earthy, organic texture and balances the stone bringing in more warmth. You can never go wrong with collecting pretty breadboards. They are just so versatile.
And those darling salt and pepper cellars? I’m so into them. If you have a big table, you could scatter a few sets around to make seasoning your meal a bit easier. I also think they would make the perfect hostess gift.
Once the table is set, flowers are the finishing touch. To keep things slightly less formal, I chose a few humble flower bouquets from the grocery store, cut them down short and put them in tarnished silver julep cups (and an old sugar bowl). This is my tried-and-true method for elevating inexpensive flowers and it works every time (see the quick tutorial here).
I raised the little vases up onto Ryan’s new favorite thing: a marble lazy Susan. Poor Susan. Why does she have to be known as lazy? I would love to know the story behind that name…
Our new yard is bursting with leaves of every shape and size. I cut the pretty green branches and layered them down the middle of the table to create a natural table runner. The green looks so pretty and fresh and, best of all, was free.
Of course the most important part of setting the Thanksgiving table is making it warm and welcoming and a place where our family can linger over conversation and good food. I can’t wait!
If you are looking for classic neutral pieces to add to your tabletop, may I recommend these 10 items from Pier 1:
- Wine Goblet | 2. Stemless Wine Glass | 3. Olive Wood Cheese Board | 4. Salt + Pepper Set | 5. Marble + Wood Coasters | 6. Stone Platter | 7. Woven Gold Checked Napkin | 8. Chevron Serving Board | 9. Marble Mortar + Pestal | 10. White Dinnerware
GIVEAWAY
To help get you started on your Thanksgiving table, Pier 1 is offering one JDC reader a $100 gift card!
To enter, leave a comment sharing your favorite Thanksgiving tradition. I’ll pick a random winner on November 2nd!
CONGRATULATIONS!
The winner of the $100 gift card is GRACE.
After the Thanksgiving meal, we all gather in the family room and go around the room, each member sharing something they were thankful for the past year. There’s usually quite a crowed of us, and it has made a wonderful tradition.
Soli Deo Gloria!
-Kyrie
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday as well! My mom’s stuffing is amazing…I look forward to it the whole month of November. We always enjoy a day of worship and then delicious food and great family times!
Our tradition is pretty simple and sweet. We are either with my husband’s family or mine every other year. We always take turns. We have only broken tradition once when my father passed and will break it again this year as my Father-in-law recently passed away. Family is too important to not be with during the holidays!
I’m from Florida and growing up every Thanksgiving was spent at the beach. I was senior in high school before I experienced a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner around a table in a home and we all said it was the weirdest Thanksgiving we had ever experienced. It has now become normal, but my sisters and I still love to think about that first traditional Thanksgiving.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is celebrating all the things we are thankful as a family. I hope to teach my boys to be thankful for the big things but also the small things.
The family all together with a table groaning with everyone’s specialities is my favorite. I especially look forward to my sister’s roasted turkey with rosemary and lemon.
My favorite childhood tradition was watching the Macy’s Parade! I was mesmerized by the floats and the marching bands.
Fast forward many years and my new one (favorite) is having my husband home! Having celebrated two together in eight years, I wish he wasn’t deployed so I could prepare a huge feast!! What man doesn’t like turkey with tons of gravy!?
Hi Emily! My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is probably planning the meal. I like to drag out all my cookbooks and come up with a few new options or twists on the traditional dishes while texting with my sister for her ideas of what she’ll bring. My husband handles the turkey and my mother-in-law handles most of the pies, so I have a lot of help! My second favorite tradition is, of course, eating the meal. :)
My favorite tradition has to be the mornings 5k turkey trot. Nothing like making some room and working up an appetite for all the food to come!
Charades after dinner! :)
Beautiful table! My mom always makes candied yams (with toasted marshmallows on top) and we always go home to Idaho for the holiday. Then we sleep off all the food and play board games into the night. :)
The boys go hunting and the girls hang with the black Friday ads…even though black Friday isn’t at all what it used to be we look at the adds over and over and visit and laugh! Its my favorite!
My favorite thanksgiving tradition started 8 years ago when we were on the east coast for my husband’s training for 4 years and ,500 miles from our family celebrating all of our holidays without them because of my husband’s schedule. We aren’t really huge turkey fans so since it was just the2 of us and they were inexpensive. We started broiling lobsters for thanksgiving. We’re no longer on the east coast, and we’ve grown our family from2 to 5, but once a year we splurge and still get lobsters for thanksgiving. And if you can believe it we don’t have any trouble getting our family to come to our house for thanksgiving dinner when broiled lobster is on the menu! Here’s where I posted about it…. http://wanderinglili.blogspot.com/2010/11/feast-baltimore-md-november.html
Our favorite tradition starts early in November (and sometimes last until closer to Christmas!). What started as a Thanksgiving Tree cut from craft paper and taped to the wall, with each of us writing thankful thoughts on leaves to attach… has evolved into many forms of the same idea. That reminds me, I should probably put out a bowl for this year’s thankful thoughts — keeping it simple!
very pretty! i guess our tradition is that we have no tradition! we have 3 separate families that we try to rotate through, so it makes having our own personal family tradition hard. if i had to pick something that we focus on every year it’s a big breakfast! no lunch and then stuff yourself silly dinner :)
beautiful table!
Your table is gorgeous! I especially love the cheese board. My favorite tradition is a meal that we share with family, complete with the best turkey and gravy, all the fixings and pumpkin pie! We usually share one thing that we are grateful for, and I think that is a great way to stay focused on the true meaning of the holiday.
Family, friends, good food, great wine – what could be better! And Thanksgiving is in the Fall!! Life is good!
Beautiful! My favorite tradition is thr thanksgiving service at our church where we all share a meal and then testify of Gods goodness in our lives this year!
making my mother-in-law’s stuffing, using giblets and all!
My favorite tradition is making homemade pumpkin cream cheese pie & going around the table stating what we all are thankful for.
Making my mom’s pumpkin pie recipe with homemade whipped cream is my favorite tradition.
Love watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Love that I can pass on the tradition to my two boys. Even purchased a book called Balloons Over Broadway to go along with the our tradition. Highly recommended it!
I love it when we have Thanksgiving at our family lake house. I love cooking with my family and eating traditional foods that remind us of loved ones no longer with us but forever in our hearts. I love doing a Thankful Tree with our children…it is still fun even as they get older…now 20, 16, 12, and 7. We cut branches from our yard and place them in a pretty container and add our leaves that say what we are grateful for… Even our college daughter sends a letter with her leaves in it to hang on the tree.
This will be my first married thanksgiving, so we’re excited to establish some of our own traditions this year that we will continue with our future family. We don’t live near family, so we celebrate with our friends who are more like family with a big dinner and dessert.
This is lovely, I love the idea of a natural table runner with leaves!
I love thanksgiving itself, but my favorite tradition is actually a few days prior to thanksgiving when my husband and I host our Friendsgiving. It’s my chance to break out my holiday pieces and be the host!
Beautiful and inspiring.
This is so beautiful and making me sad I’m not hosting this year! I love a beautiful table layout. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday even as a kid. I love getting together with family and just being together without all the hype but at the same time I love that it kicks off the anticipation of Christmas at the same time. A favorite tradition of mine is playing games together as a family after dinner. It’s always a blast!
What a lovely table!
Our family takes a little time to go around the table so each person can share something we are thankful for. In the past few years, our kids and some cousins have been old enough to take part, which has been really sweet.
I simply love our tradition of the gathering of family that takes place on Thanksgiving! The excitement seems to build with the smell of food cooking which starts early in the morning. I love the chattering sounds of conversation while everyone works together in the kitchen to prepare the delicious meal!
Might sound funny…but going for an early morning run by myself! Gives me time to give thanks before the busyness and fun of the day begin. I love the quietness of the streets, being alone with the sunrise, and having time to soak in God’s goodness to me!
So beautiful! Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday, for many of the same reasons you mentioned. Family, the conversations, the FOOD! Nothing beats it.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is sitting down before the meal prep starts, before anyone arrives at my grandmothers, to have a cup of eggnog with her. She lives about 3 hours south of me, so getting to catch up before the day starts getting crazy is insanely precious.
Sharing what we’re thankful for…and hearing the kids’ answers. Always someone is thankful for cute little things like candy, toys, or clouds.
I love the tradition of sharing what you’re most thankful for around the table. It starts early in the day with cinnamon rolls and coffee and keeps going well through the big lunch and into the night.
As a child it was going to family friends to watch the original black and white King Kong. Not sure why that was on TV every year on Thanksgiving. But, it was and we did. Now as an adult with adult children, It is getting to have everyone home, including “non family” that don’t have family in town, and cooking for everyone.
Seeing your table so beautifully decorated inspires me to get started with my Thanksgiving plans. I’m in pain of seeing your gold chargers since I just gave mine away to a friend who needed some help with her table setting. I’m hoping I can have a twist of luck with getting new gold chargers for thanksgiving and Christmas if I win this sweepstakes.
Thanks for all your amazing ideas.
I love how even though the last few Thanksgivings we have been far from extended family we still make it a point to skype or talk to them. It reminds us no matter what we are family. 2nd favorite tradition is sweet potatoes that oddly I hated as a child! I found a love for them after my first child was born.
I like going around the table and asking what they are thankful for :)
It’s so hard to pick a favorite! I love it all! But maybe it’s the going around the table before we eat to say what we’re thankful for this year. That kind of sums up the day perfectly.
Thanksgiving brings us together around the table, where tradition reigns and we share more than most days a spirit of gratitude. We give thanks for all He has provided!
I always love spending Thanksgiving Day cooking and baking with my family and wathing the parade!
Every year for Thanksgiving my two sisters and I show up at our parents house bright and early the Wednesday before to spend the day in the kitchen making all the appetizers, sides and pies ahead of time. The day is filled with laughter and catching up. Before we know it the sun has gone down and the day has come to an end. It leaves very little to do and to stress about on Thanksgiving. I look forward to this precious tradition every year.
Like you, Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays. We have so many things we do yearly, that it is difficult to select a favorite tradition. There’s everything from making pastry on Monday, the stuffing on Tuesday, and the pies on Wednesday. With eight children ages adult down to nine years old, everyone has a role in producing our feast on the day itself: Most years I prepare the turkey for the oven, someone produces rolls, the salad, the cranberry sides, prepares the beverage, the mashed potatoes, the fruit salad and any other sides we have. Even the youngest can open cans of olives and jellied cranberry sauce or help set the table. The turkey is done a couple of hours before we sit down, and Dad always carves it. To accommodate everyone, we set up a long table in the living room by the fireplace. We can see the twinkle lights on the front porch as the sun slowly sets. Around this table, we often share thoughts on what we are grateful for. Then, believe it or not, with all the respective dishes covered and keeping warm in the oven or stowed in the fridge, everyone graciously pitches in to clean up the kitchen and wash the dishes, so we sit down with everything in order. Amazing, I know. Then, it’s time to take the sparkling apple cider and serve up all around as we pause just long enough to take a breath, enjoy the process, the moment, the anticipation of the feast. I love the feast itself, but it is just this pause to take it all in and appreciate it all with this bit of refreshment that just might be my favorite tradition of all. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
What a beautiful table! My favorite tradition is getting together with extended family who we often only see at Thanksgiving. We stay up late playing all kinds of games together.
I always chuckle at this tradition: each year, before we eat, we all go around and say one thing we’re thankful for. Nana, usually ends up rambling on and on in a half list/half prayer type of combo. But it’s ok, she’s 96, so we cut her some slack.
Growing up, it was hosting Thanksgiving at our house. Our entire family would come and it was always a great time. Now, when I have the opportunity to host Thanksgiving I try to channel The same sense of hospitality and generosity that my parents did growing up.
Our family writes down something we are thankful for concerning each other. We roll up the pieces of paper we wrote our thankful note on and stuff them in little felt turkeys. We then hide the turkeys around the house. The kids go on a ‘turkey hunt’ and shoot the turkeys once they are found (with nerf guns :)). Then we read the thankful notes later that evening. It’s pretty fun.
I celebrate Thanksgiving with friends. Enjoy the conversation and the food is superb!
My new favorite thing is putting up some branches in a vase like a Jesse Tree and hanging rounds of scrapbook paper like leaves on the branches by hole punching the rounds. Then we write things we are thankful for on the rounds. My kids get silly about what they are thankful for, but it makes good memories.
RubberChickenGirl
Wow I cannot believe all the wonderful comments. In our house we put a pumpkin and a sharpie on the dining room table and each night at dinner we all take turns writing on it. Anyone who is thankful for something can use the sharpie to write it on our pumpkin. Sometimes it’s goofy like “I am thankful for Star Wars”, and sometimes it is sentimental, but in the end the pumpkin is beautiful! I put a black and white gingham bow around the stem and marvel at the blessings we all have. My kids love this tradition and so do I . My husband once used the idea in a sermon he preached….so now we even give friends a pumpkin with a bow and tell them how to do it!
Such a lovely table setting idea! We have our favorite recipes and have started having grilled salmon as baked ham as well as turkey. Something for every taste.
My mom always host the most amazing thanksgiving. My dad and her make the turkey together and we plan the menu a few weeks ahead. I love going “home” and drinking hot cider all day while being with family.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is the southern cornbread dressing! We only make it once a year and I love it – especially as left-overs! I also love being with extended family!
Making a Thanksgiving tree. Sometimes it’s all throughout November, but generally we take time on Thanksgiving to write things we are thankful for and then hang them on a branch!
We grew up living 11 hours from our nearest relative, so my parents would always extend a wide invitation to those without family local. It was like Friendsgiving before it was a thing! I am so thankful to have grown up with different ethnicities, stages of life and places of faith gathered round my table for our family to show them the light and love of the Body of Christ!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition – the pecan tart baking that only happens during this time of year for our family :)
I am crazy about the pears you used. It’s so simple and lovely. Also, those salt and pepper containers are adorbs and I agree would make a great hostess gift. I may just pick up a few sets and keep them on hand for the season.
I don’t think we have much of a tradition for Thanksgiving…we get together with family, eat, talk, walk and play games! Oh, and we did start doing that Thanksgiving Tree that, I believe, you mentioned on your blog already! :) (p.s. I love following your blog!:))
Up until I married my husband, my Puerto Rican family made rice instead of mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner. Lol! I always loved it
Favorite Thanksgiving tradition is gathering with my husband’s family – over 4 generations come together and it is the best time to catch up with everyone!
Each Thanksgiving we take turns around the table saying what we’re thankful for this last year. It’s warm and cozy with a fire in the fireplace and everyone is getting into the holiday in a memorable and special way. As my son gets old enough we’ll teach him this as well.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is that my husband now bakes the turkey. He stumbled upon an amazing recipe, and now he loves to help get the feast going, and I love that we get to cook the Thanksgiving dinner together, spending hours in the kitchen together.
This is so pretty! My favorite tradition is simply hanging out with family all. Day. Long.
Being with family and eating amazing food!
We have roast ducks intead of turkey for thanksgiving,but now our family finally got too big for that. This year we will do the traditional dinner. Thank God for His blessings.
Favorite Thanksgiving tradition is going around the table and saying something we’re thankful for about the year. It’s interesting and intimate to reflect on the year with others and see their points of view.
Last year marked my first year of camping out with great family and friends and enjoying a local foods potluck. This was my favorite Thanksgiving by far, and I can’t wait to continue the tradition!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is sharing what we are grateful for and reflecting on God’s blessings. My favorite holiday!
I love the pears and the salt and pepper wells.
Thanksgiving is such a special time to reflect and be grateful for all of God’s bountiful blessings. Our family enjoys doing the thankful tree with your tags. That has become a yearly tradition.
Also, it is always special to enjoy time with family, some that we do not get to see often.
Just love your table, Emily! My favorite part is the adorable windowpane napkins. So cute! As far as my favorite Thanksgiving tradition, I would have to say it is the amazing meal my mother-in-law prepares. We always celebrate Thanksgiving at my in-laws because I usually have to work Black Friday and my parents live out of state. Over the years, my MIL has perfected her menu and our family (which usually includes some friends or acquaintances that have no where else to celebrate) enjoy all of her hard work spent on that meal. The only unfortunate part is the hours slaved away in the kitchen results in a meal that is devoured in under a half-hour. But, it is DELICIOUS and we all look forward to the quality time spent around the table investing into each other’s lives. Happy early Thanksgiving, especially celebrating in your new home!
I love the relaxing feeling of being with family and not rushing around! There is plenty of rushing around for the Friday after.
Just being with family and relaxing!
For Thanksgiving, whichever family member is hosting the dinner will purchase a small Thanksgivig decor that is used as part of the table centerpiece. Each of the name cards will have a number on the inside. At the end of the meal, one of the kids will pick a number out of the hat & whosever number matches on the name card wins the prize! It’s just a fun, easy tradition that everyone gets excited about. Some years, we will have an additional treat geared more towards the kids. It’s a fun way to pass along cute decor.
I love hosting Friendsgiving!
Our family traditions include everyone present telling what they are thankful for, my mama’s homemade stuffing, and my grandma’s homemade cranberry relish. It isn’t Thanksgiving without all that deliciousness!
The parade, the football, getting the real newspaper out to scour the ads, the food…. so many choices. But I think my favorite thing is that it’s a day that is so much about the people you are with. There’s lots of sitting and just enjoying the people. No craziness of presents or other busyness. Just a lazy day to be thankful for all God has given us.
Oh Thanksgiving… I love this holiday. I would say my favorite tradition is getting up, eating breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls and watching the parade :) I love that we keep things slow and eat later in the day!!
My favorite is a $5 white tablecloth that I picked up from Target several years ago and that we write on every year – the first year we all traced our hands and our kids get their hands traced every year as they grow (they sign the palms) and then we all write one thing we’re thankful for on it. One of these years I’ll get our sharpie-graffiti embroidered so it’s saved for posterity, but until then, I’m just happy to have proof every year of the love around our table. (Full disclosure – I stole that idea off pinterest.) I also love that every Thanksgiving morning we have our first hot chocolate of the season while we watch the parade. It makes everything feel so festive.
Every year during the month of November, our family does the “12 days of gratitude”. We have a little countdown starting 12 days before Thanksgiving where each day we think about what we are grateful for. We hang something on our little banner that represents what we thought of so we have a visual reminder to be grateful. It’s a fun and simple way to get the kids involved and thinking about what they are thankful for.
Being highly competitive as a kid with my brother…snapping the turkey wish bone was always high on the list after a great family meal.
We don’t live near much family but we always have Thanksgiving dinner with whatever family happens to be around or our friends that are like family. One of the things I enjoy most is setting the table with all of our fun tableware, cloth napkins, flowers, etc. It is a good excuse to use everything and have a beautiful table for all of us to gather around.
Pie making, with my mom’s recipe, is my favorite tradition.
When I was a child my favorite tradition was watching the Macy’s parade as my mom prepared a turkey with all the trimmings. Now I enjoy the excitement of my grandchildren as they watch the parade while I prepare the meal.
I get to spend the day with my husband. Eating good food- watching movies and being with our three kids! ?
If it’s not a year I am traveling to see my parents, I love watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It really gets me into the Christmas spirit and reignites my desire to live in NYC ;)
My favorite tradition is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade with my kids and husband. We love seeing the different balloons and think it would be so fun to watch in person some day!
We love going to the thanksgiving day parade in Philadelphia every year before we start cooking!
A large family gathering. I grew up with them, and it just doesn’t happen as often anymore. So many people packed around a full table… JOY!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition was always a day or two after Thanksgiving when most of the women on my mom’s side of the family get together for Craft Day and make live Christmas wreaths in my aunt’s garage.
We don’t have have any big specific traditions but I do love the casual gathering with a traditional meal- -a wonderful way to gather around the table.
I love family in the house, football on the TV, baking and cooking with my Mom and Sister, setting a pretty table and just being with my people! We always invite someone who has no family around too because they always sweeten the party!!
We love eating our big meal at lunchtime and then heading to our local zoo to walk it off (and the zoo is free on Thanksgiving!) Then we come back to make a lighter meal of leftovers and watch a movie.
Thanksgiving is my family’s favorite holiday. Not only is it their favorite meal, but it signifies the beginning of the Christmas holidays and all the traditions and activities we have then.
What love about Thanksgiving is our family tradition of all of saying what we are thankful for after our meal and I adore that my mom puts a thankful verse on our place setting. We take turns reading them aloud and we get to explain what the verse means to us. Even the little kids love it!
Fabulous table! We always cut a branch and hang tags for our thankful tree…helping us to remember our blessings! We also always make my moms famous jello salad!
Mixing old traditions with new ones is what I like to do. Updating family recipes to match the healthier way we now eat, dressing comfortably and casually instead of wearing our “Sunday” best clothes (like I had to do as a child for Thanksgiving), and really enjoying family and being with them instead of being more concerned that everything looks perfect- theses are just a few of the traditions I hope to pass down to the next generation. Thanks for a chance at the giveaway! Updating my table with this gift card would be an added bonus!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is eating piece after piece of lefse (made with my grandmother’s recipe)… Until my stomach can’t take anymore. My grandma passed away almost 2 years ago, but over the years she gave all her grandkids the supplies needed to make lefse. I think of her with each lefse flip! I already enjoy making lefse with my almost 5-year-old. I’ll keep the family tradition going!
We love to try to start the morning slowly while drinking coffee and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade!! Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday! Love the tablescape!
I adore the touches of gold in the napkins and how you have added the gold in ways that it isn’t overwhelming.
As a Canadian, I grew up celebrating Thanksgiving on the first Monday in October. Now as a resident Minnesotan, and I love the extra long weekend!!
My favorite memory is cooking Thanksgiving dinner with my mom. We do many things together, but it’s the one constant no matter what city, house or apartment I’ve been in. I know it’s not something that can last forever so I enjoy every moment while I can. Sitting down with our family after a long but fun day of laughing and cooking surrounded by love and our family is simply irreplaceable.
Actually, I like kitchen cleanup. Kids are busy playing football, and adults just get to chat as they work.
Favorite tradition is getting out all our prior year’s photobooks and reviewing Thanksgivings from the past years.
We always have a big feast with family and friends who may be alone for the holiday. Our favorite tradition is lighting our tree which we put up the day before but leave unplugged until Thanksgiving evening. Of course, we also share around the table, our reasons for being thankful. For our family, Thanksgiving is the kick-off to our most beloved time of year, the Advent Season and Christmas!
These are such great pieces! They would quickly become entertaining staples in my house. My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is now hosting Thanksgiving lunch. My husband’s family used to go to a restaurant because no one wanted the work of hosting lunch, but we love having everyone in our home. Our house is little but it was built by my husband’s great uncle and we are proud to have a home with family history. And we love watching the grandparents and great grandparents laugh and play with our kids while we set the table and all eat together. We didn’t expect to be able to host holiday dinners while being so young (late 20s), but we are enjoying it immensely! We hope our home (whether this house or another) is still where everyone likes to gather for the holidays even we are playing with our own grandchildren.
My husband and I live out of state from his family, but we get together with them every Thanksgiving. One tradition I love is making “crafts” with our niece, which, as she has gotten older, have evolved into making place cards for everyone. She likes to keep them secret until it’s time to sit down and then we have to have a big reveal and show everyone where they are sitting. It’s great to see how appreciative everyone is and how proud she is. I hope she never grows out of “crafting with Aunt Lisa.”
My family all wakes up early and runs the local Turkey Trot together. We have been doing it for 15+ years now!
My favorite thing about this table is the pear and greenery! Love all the natural elements! Just beautiful!
Some favorite traditions are the baking and prepping the day before, gathering with friends and family, relaxing, hosting and remembering the many blessings we have!
Every year my parents take our sweet kiddos to cut down a fresh Christmas tree Thanksgiving Weekend. It’s a tradition they started when our oldest was 2. The tree is decorated with lights and homemade ornaments, which the kids make every year for my mom. Tree decorating includes fun treats, hot cocoa, and Christmas carols. Last year the kids said it was for them only with nana and papa, (my husband and I were not allowed) LOL. I love the sweet memories they get to make with family :)
So naturally beautiful! Love the table setting!
Favorite Thanksgiving tradition is gathering as a family and cooking the meal with my mom and sisters!
My favorite tradition is the pie, of course! ;)
We run a 5k in the morning and the traditions really lie in the dishes themselves. Recipes that have been passed down for generations.
I love Thanksgiving, and I think of it as officially kicking off the holiday season here in Texas (although the weather typically likes to think the opposite). My favorite tradition is going around the table and saying what each of us are thankful for. Since we’ve been married, we flip flop each year between my family and my husband’s. But one thing that always remains consistent is that we are with our loved ones, and that we have so many things to be grateful for each and every year! Beautiful tablescape, thank you for sharing :)
Playing football in the streets after we’ve enjoyed a beautiful dinner!
I love everything about Thanksgiving…good food, family, and gratitude! I think it might be my favorite holiday. One of my favorite traditions is making turkey enchiladas the day after Thanksgiving.
PUMPKIN PIE!!!
I enjoy how our family (all 27 of us) stand in a circle, hold hands, say grace, followed by going around the circle and saying what we are grateful for.. . . then the pumpkin pie.
Spending time with family and eating great food. And of course at the end of the day going through the black friday ads!
We live getting together with family for Thanksgiving. We’ve done it various ways over the years, but we ALWAYS have delicious food. Someone is always put in charge to decorating the table, and it always finds to see different personalities come out. This table is perfect!
My favorite tradition is spending hours in the kitchen preparing the familiar dishes that make it feel like Thanksgiving. My favorite being a chocolate cream pie made from scratch.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is celebrating with my whole extended family at my Grandmother’s house the day after Thanksgiving. There are tables everywhere! Two in the living room – using couches as seats, one in front of the fireplace, one in front of the piano in the entry way, two in the dining room. I love seeing how our family grows each year and we just keep adding seats where we can!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is to put five kernels of corn at each plate. One year I glued these to a cute little name card with a brief story of the pilgrims. It talks about how they planted and harvested and why we celebrate the holiday. Then we each think of and share five things that we are grateful for.
We have a vintage tablecloth that we write what we are thankful for every year. It’s fun to go back through the years and read all the memories!
Just about the only consistent thanksgiving tradition for my family has been turkey and family and/or friends. I’m thinking it would be nice to start some new traditions. Thanks for the giveaway!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is that the crystal goblets are brought out and we make mock cocktails. It was so fancy when we were kids that my family has continued the tradition into adulthood!
I’ve been hosting family for many Thanksgivings now. As our families have grown, I add another leaf to our Grandparents vintage Duncan Phyfe table and use a roll of regular brown craft / painters paper as the table cloth / runner. The children trace their hands with crayons in a turkey look drawing and write a word of thankfulness inside their hand. Upon gathering at the table adults and kids are excited to point out their hand / turkey drawing and everyone takes turn in telling us about what they are thankful for. It is a very memorable part of our Thanksgiving tradition as family members come, go and grow. Thank you for your blog. :)
One of my favorite thanksgiving traditions is the hiding of the candy corns. My grandma will typically hide 2-4 candy corns under each place setting at her beautifully set table. Before we begin dinner, we go around and say what we are thankful for based on the number of candy corns that we have under our plate. It is such a special time of joy, laughter, tears, and rejoicing to hear every family member share how the Lord has so graciously blessed our family. Then my grandpa usually closes in prayer and then we enjoy the delicious thanksgiving meal together! ❤️
Every year Thanksgiving is celebrated at my parents house with all my extended family! Since I was little, my favorite part is being able to help set the table and centerpieces with my mom. From the white ceramic turkey’s my grandma made that hold our napkins every year, to the dishes my mom received on her wedding day, and the water glasses that my great grandma treasured. These are the things that make our table special. I’ve learned from a young age that the table is the center of any holiday. It’s what seats my family in one place, holds the food for us to eat, and ushers us into conversation and laughter.
We love the Turkey Trot 5K to start our day, but the best part is my husband and I in the kitchen doing what we love, making a wonderful meal for our children and family. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Emily!
My mom, sister, and I always meet up for coffee agre weeks before the holiday to plan our menu and who is going to make what. I always look forward to it! ☺️
As a kid we always built model rockets on thanksgiving with my stepdad, then went out in search of a field the next day to shoot them off! So silly and fun and a much better way to spend the Friday after than at a crowded mall :)
Every year we have Thanksgiving dinner with dear friends. Last year at their place, this year at our place, and we’ve done this for years! Our tradition is to go around the table and say what we’re thankful for.
My favorite thanksgiving tradition is getting together with family and sharing what we are thankful for that year. Life get so busy and we often don’t take the time to just sit and chat about what we are thankful for…..I also love the traditional football watching and cheering for the underdog.
Our tradition on this very traditional holiday is to enjoy varied fare. From year to year, we have served the gamut of turkey to grilled tuna steaks! Our family is small and it is fun to experiment with new ideas! No matter the menu, these Pier One elements would be a welcome addition to our Thanksgiving celebration! ???
The pears look beautiful on the napkins. I like the variety of fruits and nuts in the center as well..
For the last 7 years I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner with my sister and being in the kitchen together pretty much all day is my favorite. We laugh, sample delicious food, play Christmas music, and always forget at least one dish no matter how hard we try! At the end of the day we are exhausted but it is a happy exhaustion. Good food and family is my favorite Thanksgiving tradition.
A few years ago we started having tacos and margaritas on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. It’s an easy and relaxing way to kick off the holiday weekend.
My favorite tradition is after we have eaten a delicious meal we clear the table and play board games. Kids and adults together. It’s such a fun time laughing and playing.
We started one of my favorite traditions 18 years ago when we were first married…a morning prayer walk. Before breakfast…before almost everything really. We put on the coats, hats, gloves and bring a warm drink. Through the years we’ve explored our three different neighborhoods, added strollers, carriers and sippy cups. We even braved the snow and ice (those were quick walks!). Now our three boys who are 4,7, and 9, can contribute to this meaningful tradition…looking back over the year to remind each other of all that we have to be thankful for and go to the One who made it all possible.
I love Thanksgiving for the pure fact that you just get together with family for a good meal. No pressure to buy the right gift or ‘did you do enough’ for each person. It’s gotten hard the past few years as this is the time of year my dad passed away suddenly at the young age of 57, but we still stick with our traditions and keep it special for our children.
Those gold chargers are perfection!
Thank you for the giveaway opportunity. I invite you to stop by and enter some of my giveaways too. Tradition is a tough one, hubby and I are empty nesters and we have been know to have a pajama day on Thanksgiving. I think that ciounts as a tradion ( wink)
Hugs
4 years ago the day after Thanksgiving we found out that we were going to be blessed with our first child through the miracle of adoption. So needless to say this holiday holds a very special place in our hearts. One tradition we have done is throughout the year we have a grateful jar and write blessings on paper all year long. Then sometime during Thanksgiving we read all the blessings!
We spend Thanksgiving with my mother-in-law. We have a fun time in the city, love all the amazing newspaper ads, the beautiful lights in the neighborhood and the fun of being in the city.
Sorry about the double entry I was having technical issues and didn’t see the first one posted.
We spend Thanksgiving with my husband’s family. It is always fun because my mother in law lives in the city so we love to look through all the newspaper ads and enjoy the holiday lights, sounds, and fun of being in the city.
Very nice! I like the FREE leaves used as a table runner.
I always make homemade crescent rolls for Thanksgiving. The recipe was passed down from my mother-in-law and every year I vow to make more batches because they are gone by the end of the meal! Beautiful table Emily!
My oldest two daughters now have families of their own and have pre-Thanksgiving dinner activities, but we all gather in the late afternoon at my house for dinner. Our holidays always include my childhood friend and her husband, and whoever doesn’t have a place to go. Our new tradition is salmon instead of turkey, and with some slight variations all the traditional “fix ins”. Lots to be grateful for each year.
Homemade sweet potato casserole with candied pecan topping! Makes my mouth water just thinking about it! And, family time ❤️❤️❤️
Gorgeous! One of my favorite traditions is going out Thanksgiving weekend to pick a Christmas tree in the forest!
We carry on a family tradition of my husband’s family called the Turkey Olympics! One person, aka the Head Turkey, plans several games for the family to play after dinner (we divide into 2 teams). Always a fun time, the kids love it, young and old play together (or you can sit out if there’s something you don’t feel comfortable doing – for instance, the balloon stomp can get a little bit too competitive with the teenage boys so some of the other folks usually sit out for that one). We’ve been doing it for 15 years and my husband’s family did it for 15? years before that.
It’s not really a tradition, but gathering with the whole family and hearing stories from every generation represented. It brings so much unity and appreciation!
My favorite memories are when growing up my dad would be outside getting up leaves, which I loved the smell of wood burning from chimneys & the smell of fresh fall leaves. My mom would be inside making the best stuffing & pumpkin pies! It was always a laid back day full with family.
Halloween was so fun last night, but now I’m ready to go full-on for the holidays! I may even break out my Christmas music a little early this year…
Thanksgiving is my favorite! We always have dinner with my family and it has grown so much that we have to celebrate in the elementary school gymnasium! There are usually about sixty people there, and we have so much fun catching up, eating amazing food, and taking lots of family photos. And we ALWAYS listen to Christmas music on the way home from the festivities. I am so looking forward to sharing our traditions with my five and a half month old son! :)
What a beautiful table! My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is similar to one of yours. We spend the weekend with my grandparents and make the trek up into the mountains to cut down our own Christmas tree. We’ve done it since I can remember and there is always a good story that comes from the adventure.
My mother in law buys Christmas jammies for every member of the family and we open them up after Thanksgiving dinner. We all sit around in our comfy new pjs and play games.
What a lovely table! My siblings and cousins hold a pie-making contest each year. This produces 12-15 pies to try and fosters a lot of endearing smack-talk!
This is so beautiful and inspiring, Emily! Pier 1 did a good job partnering with you!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is taking a walk with my loved ones after our feast. The crisp November air keeps us walking quickly!
Our tradition is to alternate years spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family and my in-laws. This year we will be with my family for Thanksgiving and his for Christmas. We enjoy a delicious meal together and then have dessert later in the evening with lots of extended family. We love it!
We celebrate Thanksgiving with our family at our house. Everyone chips in and I love decorating for fall. I want to start a Thankful leaf tree this year.
We always celebrate with family at my parents house. Lots of food and a fun game of Bingo.
My favorite tradition on Thanksgiving is breaking off the wishbone. Now that I’m a mom, it’s so cute to see our kids share in this too. Adorable to see them figuring out what to wish for. I really do love Thanksgiving, as it is our opportunity to slow down and truly enjoy time with those we love without all the commercialization and rushing that has taken over the Christmas holiday season. xoxo Haydee ps Emily, love all the inspiration you openly share with us, from being a sweet mom with so much patience to decorating our homes so beautifully. {virtual hugs}
Such a pretty table setting! Inspiring, as always, Emily! We make paper feather crowns, and write things we are grateful for on the back of each feather. We then share those thoughts around the dinner table.
We have no strong Thanksgiving traditions other than spending time with family. Which I love!! We alternate each year who’s side of the family we spend the day with. So the day looks different each year. But it is is always filled with family and being grateful for the many blessings in our life.
I love the beauty in your simplicity. So elegant and understated-this is the direction I would like to go with when decorating a table for an event. Thank you for your continuous inspiration.
In our family, Thanksgiving is just the beginning of an entire season of thankfulness and servanthood. We have a “thankful tree” that we add leaves to each day with what we’re thankful for and we always do an Operation Christmas Child box. It is my absolute favorite holiday because there is no confusion of gifts or busyness; it’s a holiday in which we simply spend time with family and reflect on the many blessings we have to be thankful for.
On Thanksgiving morning, my family attends a special Thanksgiving church service to thank God for all He has given us. We then get together with either my husbands family or my family for a Thanksgiving dinner. On my side of the family we usually always sing a song or two before we eat. One we often sing is a hymn called “Count Your Many Blessings”. It is a joy to lift all of our voices to God in a musical thanksgiving!! I love this tradition!
We always used to do the annual family football game, and I loved cheering on my dad and uncles!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is all the ladies cooking in the kitchen together – such a wonderful bonding time!!
Our neighborhood parade with the local high school marching band
I love these pieces. The table is beautiful. My favorite tradition is that my daughter makes place mats for the table. She personalizes them for each person. Each year is a different style. I love getting fresh stuff from the yard.
Our thanksgiving traditions have changed through the years. When I was younger we would always head up north to my Nana and Grandpa”s house on Georgian Bay and eat dinner with the ENTIRE family. I miss those times. Nana would always cook everything from scratch and we would all be stuffed to the brim. We would all go around the table and say what we were thankful for that year. Now our “little” family does it on a much smaller scale. We have my sister and her family and our mother over and we all contribute to the meal and we even use some of Nana”s tried and true recipes. It still feels just as warm as back when we would go up there. It is at these times especially we praise God for the blessings He’s given us. It can be overwhelming to think about. :)
Thanksgiving was never a big deal growing up and now that I have my own family we alternate who we spend Thanksgiving with every other year so even though it is much more special now the traditions aren’t consistent for us. One thing I do love is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade with my kiddos and I think it would be so fun to watch it in person one year!
This is our first thanksgiving without both my parents. Even as all of us “kids” had grown up and started families, our Thanksgiving had stayed mostly the same. Now we are trying to figure out all our holidays and some will stay the same, but a lot will be different. For the first time, I am not looking forward to the holiday season. I know my kids will eventually pull me into the spirit, and I am so very grateful for them and the family still with us.
Emily, I love how you collect things from around your own house. It keeps your design fresh, and budget friendly. Your creativity amazes and inspires me. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful and natural table scape. Thanksgiving blessings to you and your family in your new home!
Growing up, our thanksgiving tradition was to have family over at our home. Dad always made the turkey and the rest of us were in charge of one dish. After getting married and moving to another state, we have not had a consistent thanksgiving tradition apart from visiting my husband’s grandma at some point in the day. This year, my parents are visiting and we are hosting thanksgiving for the first time in our new home! I couldn’t be more excited!!
Our daughter Irish Dances and her Mid-West competition is always Thanksgiving weekend. That means we are travelling with all of the other Irish Dance families. We all bring our favorite Thanksgiving dish and have dinner together in one of the family’s hotel room. We all miss our families so much, but we have all become family from this tradition.
Now that the kids are older and adults we divide up the cooking, so I’m not exhausted by dinner time! I create the menu, buy all the food, print out recipes and lay it all out on the island in the morning. I make the turkey, but as the rest of the crew gets up and out of bed, they make their way to the coffee and then to the island to pick a recipe to make. Since my daughter is out there by you Emily, in Issaquah, she doesn’t get to participate. But, my boys definitely have enjoyed this new tradition. It gives them a chance to try their hand at cooking. And it’s great fun and a wonderful bonding time with my boys each year, including my hubby!
Bright and early. That is when our day begins. Cooking, staging, getting ready for tons of fun.
So to set the scene, we eat around 11 am…..and graze all day long. Then as the sun starts to go down we bundle up in our warm clothes, pile into several cars, and head to Silver Dollar City.The amusement park’s “Old Time Christmas” festival features five million lights, one thousand decorated trees, two Broadway-style musical productions, thrilling amusement rides, unique shopping, and endless holiday comfort foods and treats.
So we ride rides, take lots of pictures, and lots more delicious treats. By the time the park closes, we are exhausted and so content with all the time we were able to spend together. These memories are the BEST!
Our Thanksgiving tradition is a smoked turkey on the grill. When we first moved into our house 11 years ago, we had JUST moved in. We didn’t have anything! Not even a stove, but we did have a grill. So we improvised and grilled everything we could; the turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, the pie–everything! Now we have a stove and all the trimmings have been moved inside, but we still smoke our turkey low and slow on the grill like our first Thanksgiving.
Our family tradition is being untraditional, in the sense that, as a military family we have been separated by deployments, thousands of miles from family, and a few oceans! We embrace being with the family and friends at hand, and end up with a patchwork of shared traditions and cultures (two thanksgivings ago, in Portugal, we had turkey, octopus salad, and bacalao) and every year is a little different We are grateful for the time to slow down and give thanks, while also understanding that life can mean sacrifice as well.
Your table is perfect! It’s exactly how I want mine to look this year as I host family. I love Thanksgiving, it’s always during that meal that I look around at my loved ones and realize just how lucky I am!
Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday – all the family feels with not nearly as much of the stress and time! Our family gathers at my house, and I bake the turkey(s) and make home made yeast rolls, while everyone else brings all of the sides. And yes, we have the same things EVERY Thanksgiving – our children think some of those dishes can only be made once a year!
Thanksgiving is basically my favorite holiday too- that and Christmas. I love gathering with family and it feeling so warm and comforting. My favorite tradition is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Although I listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies, and celebrate the holiday starting basically on Nov 1, the parade always makes it feel officially the holiday season. No matter where I am, I have to watch it.
I love that everyone brings a dish to share, something that they have memories of Thanksgiving about. I love to hear the stories of why they bring a certain dish.
Beautiful simplicity. Thanks for always inspiring! Happy Thanksgiving!
The best part of Thanksgiving is the family games we play while the turkey is finishing up. Any kind of board game and last year we added Pie In The Face. Lots of laughing always going on and it has gotten better and better each year that the kids get older.
Play “turkey trivia”, random thanksgiving facts written on construction paper turkeys I made when my kids were little. They’re grown now and we still play every year. I love the simple elegance of your table – beautiful!
My favorite Thanskgiving tradition is waking up to homemade cinnamon rolls in the crockpot and snuggling up with my son on the couch to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade before my large extended family descends to start making the Thanksgiving feast :)
Our families are a pretty untraditional on both sides but we are in the process of finishing up a home remodel and are hoping to make our home a stable place for our families to come together! One thing that we have kept constant over the years is Christ being the focal point of any get together. :)
This table is so naturally beautiful. One of our family traditions is to open a bottle of red wine mid-morning while preparing our feast!
Pie and stuffing!
We go around the table and share what we’re thankful for, kids too. It’s special. Thank you for the giveaway and great tablescape ideas!
We come together with family and share a wonderful meal, we all name things that we are thankful for. It is a day we look forward to and really savor.
What a beautiful tablescape , Emily! Thank you for the inspiration. Simplicity is always beautiful . I especially like that simplicity equates with more family time. With a grateful heart , happy thanksgiving to your dear family .
Bravo! Such a lovely earthy yet elegant holiday table!
At 19 I moved to Louisiana following my Marine. For 43 years we travel home to Georgia for Thanksgiving. We have Turkey, Ham, baked macroni and every one brings a dish of some kind and the deserts are awesome. Love the table settings ideas. When we do sit to eat I like a pretty table.
I absolutely love setting a dinner table with things on hand and the great outdoors. The cheese platter is a must since we are from Wisconsin and I love all your neutral colors. Thanks for the ideas and isn’t it great to share blessings with others.
We invite over everyone we know that doesn’t have family! It looks different every year!
Our family is in the Christmas tree business so many of our members are working on Thanksgiving. We don’t live close enough to help. So Thanksgiving for our family is about the friends that live close by. We gather with five other families that don’t have their true families close by and it’s our gathering of misfits. We always have a random person or two join that is alone for the holiday. It is a true celebration on friendship.
Beautiful! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays too – spending time with friends and family around a great meal with out the added pressure of giving gifts.
My favorite part of Thanksgiving is all the cooking and prep with my mother beforehand. My girls and I will head to her house and work on the stuffing or casseroles the day before. It’s a great way to bond and to relax on Thanksgiving day because all of the work is done!
We always make popcorn, a nod towards maize being at the first Thanksgiving! Quirky but fun! Your table is gorgeous!
Really enjoy seeing all of the details of your table design. Very inspiring!! Traditions? Thanksgiving recipes that we never get tired of, and interesting conversations.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is how my mom decorates her house and the table! Sometimes we have Thanksgiving at my sister’s house, and she has carried on the tradition of a beautiful table setting. We have little name placards to show us where to sit and we get to use fancy cloth napkins :). Beautiful decorations really make it feel like a special holiday.
Kids’ turkey hands drawings.
It never mattered the holiday, whenever my father-in-law was present at a family gathering, he’d always bring a ham! He went home to be with Jesus last Christmas but I am certain someone will be bringing ham in his honor.
We have my husbands family over every year. We use the same dishes, silverware, even tables and chairs as great grandma did for years and years.
We always watch the Macy’s parade, eat yummy snacks, and hang out as a family. I love long slow days that involve good food, good drinks, and dessert!
My thanksgiving favorite is the slow pace and the simmering conversations that ebb and flow as the food is passed and memories of the year are shared. Warms my heart.
Running the local 5 mile race before a day of endulging!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition actually begins on November 1. That’s the day I dust off the family gratitude journal for us to begin making daily, individual entries which continue until Thanksgiving night–then the journal gets put away until next November 1. It’s fun to see the changes from year to year, or even from one day to the next (here’s a hint–make sure teenagers have a snack before you bug them to “write in the book”). This ordinary-looking black leather journal has become one of my most prized possessions.
I love the fellowship! :)
Your table setting is stunning! Traditions in our home: Coffee cake, Macy’s parade, get that turkey cooking and cozy up as a family till dinner is served, more cozy, till there’s room for pumpkin pie.
My favorite is playing a game where we write down something we’re grateful for and then as a family we guess who wrote it.
As a kid my favorite was getting the turkey wishbone and breaking it with my sister to see whose wish came true!
Eating waaaaay to much and watching football.
A Blessings Board. Take a stiff foam core board and write “Blessings Board” at the top. People are encouraged to take a sticky note and write a blessing on it and put it on the board. The first year we did this, our grandkids were the first to write out their blessings! I keep the board as a reminder of ALL our blessings.
My favorite part of Thanksgiving is just being together with family and friends. There’s no pressure to buy gifts, just the simple joy of making memories and time together!
I too love Thanksgiving! It also happens to be my birthday every once in a while, and my favorite tradition is my great aunt’s pumpkin pie as my birthday cake! Also leftover turkey and pickles:)
Thanksgiving is always a favorite time of year for me. Getting together with family, or with friends and taking time away from our hustle and bustle, work/school week and be fully engaged with good ole family time. Every year we sit down for dinner and we say what we are most thankful for in our present year then pray for continued grateful hearts and humble spirits as we bring in another year of quality time with family.
Your table is so sinple, yet elegant and timeless. Thank you for your continued inspiration & design!
My tradition was helping my mom cook all morning. Thanksgiving wasn’t scary to start on my own since I’d been helping for so long. The new tradition is love to start is decorating a table like this!
Just being thankful to be together! Enjoying good food and playing games! Thanks for your nice post:)
Without a doubt, mashed potatoes are my favorite Thanksgiving tradition. My oldest daughter and I love mashed potatoes and don’t get to eat them often, so we count down the days until Thanksgiving every year!
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Spending time with loved ones, eating pumpkin pie and playing in fall leaves are happy memories!
I love November. And I love the family time that comes with it! Besides family, we always have friends over Thanksgiving day to celebrate with us, it’s a family tradition!!
We always spend the weekend with family eating and playing games.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! This is because the focus is on family, dear friends and being Thankful for all the many blessings from heaven above.
Love the fresh greens on the table from your yard….bonus! I have some ideas for the table this year.
Every year before we dig in, we say something we’re thankful for about the people sitting on each side of us. It’s nice to hear appreciation and love from those we care about!
Being with family and sharing a delious dinner!
Emily, your table is so natural, elegant and enticing!
Two fave traditions: a car photo scavenger hunt where we break into unlikely teams to mix things up. We head out in several cars after appetizers and before the turkey to snap photos described by our scavenger hunt clues and beat the other teams back for turkey. Winners get first choice of the desserts!
Over the years babies napped during that time so they weren’t overwhelmed by company!
Best memories and laughs when we throw the game photos into a slide show after the meal to determine the winners.
My husband and four children have started our own traditions for the day.
The first part, is that they have to help by making one of the side dishes we will eat with our turkey, HOWEVER, it must contain a unique element..it could be a new spice added to the potatoes, etc or the “thankful token” hidden within the dish..no matter how good or bad we may think the food is, we must all eat each dish, and of course the turkey.
The 2nd part is that whomever finds the token kicks the next years journal off with a special day entry, in a family journal, containing monthly entries of what they were thankful for that month. At the following years thanksgiving day we will read each entry to remind us of what we’ve all been thankful for during the past year. It reminds us to be thankful and how special it is to be year round. Eventually it will also become a great family heirloom.
My favorite family tradition growing up was that my dad cooked our Thanksgiving feast. He is a wonderful cook and each year gave my mom the “day off.” It was fun as kids and now as adults to work with him in the kitchen while getting to watch my mom do her favorite thing: making the table beautiful.
Two favorite traditions: my mom (age 85) always makes “regular” dressing and oyster dressing– the oyster variety for my dad, who is really the only one that loves it! He sneaks bites of it both before and after the meal. It reminds me of two hallmarks of Thanksgiving– generosity and abundance. The other favorite tradition is the lighting ceremony at the Country Club Plaza shopping district, when thousands of colored Christmas lights are turned on Thanksgiving evening. The switch is flipped by a famous Kansas Citian (like a member of the World Champion Kansas City Royals baseball team). One of these traditions is huge and celebratory and involves much of the city; the other is small and quiet and is just my parents, but both warm my heart.
My favorite part of Thanksgiving is being together with family and preparing the special foods we all enjoy. I will be missing my daughter this year because she lives 5 hours away and has to work on Friday so isn’t coming. We are considering having dinner earlier in the month when she can come, haven’t worked it out yet.
Our family each share our gratitude before we eat dinner. I love to listen to their joys and growth.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is getting together with family, watching the Macy’s parade on TV while getting all the sides prepped and the turkey is finishing in the oven….(we eat Thanksgiving for lunch). After the food coma sets in, we hang out and watch football. And often there has also been a football game outside in the yard with the cousins!
My husbands glorious garlic mashed potatoes! He doesn’t cook much, but his Thanksgiving potatoes are worth the cleanup. Oh boy oh boy oh boy, just 24 days to go…..!
My favorite Thamksgiving tradition is helping all my Mom’s sister’s prepare a feast made from all my Mom and Grandma’s recipes. Now that both Mom and Grandma have passed, this act feels like such a tribute to them and the beauty and sense of community they brought to our world. This tradition is often the closest I feel to my Mom and Grandma all year long. I know they are standing in the kitchen with us….. its the best.
Thanksgiving is seriously one of my favorite holidays! (second favorite, to be exact, right after Christmas). I’m always so disappointed with how everybody skips right from Halloween to Christmas and it feels like Thanksgiving is just looked over! Thank you so much for all the wonderful tips for setting such a lovely Thanksgiving table. You make it seem so simple and easy. :)
Beautiful table! Where did you get the marble lazy susan? Favorite tradition is the perfectly seasoned turkey…special family recipe.
Beautiful table! My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is having a lazy morning watching the parade and the dog show. Then we pour over the black Friday ads!
My sister and I cook Thanksgiving dinner together in her kitchen. We are so different…..personality, temperament, likes, dislikes, etc. but we always bond and enjoy such a special time together while we are cooking the Thanksgiving meal.
My favorite thanksgiving tradition is playing games all together with extended family and making pies!
Thanksgiving is all about gratefulness, family, food and hopefully family games.
Every year, beginning Nov 1st, I cover a main door in our living area with brown craft paper. The kids come to it daily and write something they are thankful for. By Thanksgiving, we have a wonderful visual of all the blessings in our life.
Our family LOVES Thanksgiving. It’s filled with family, friends and old family recipes for stuffing and rolls. Thank you for the beautiful post on Thanksgiving. It gets me excited to decorate and get my menu planning underway! ?
Love the stress free family time and traditional comfort food!
The first family tradition that came to mind involves Chocolate Pie. My Late Grandmother’s recipe. Baked by my Sister (she’s a great cook). Beloved by All.
I love the smell of turkey baking in the oven, and the anticipation of family coming home. The excitement and joy of being together around the table, there’s nothing quite like it…
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is fixing a big meal and sharing it lots of family and friends. Holidays are meant for family :)
My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is welcoming my adult children home along with any extended family or friends. The more, the merrier! With my folks gone and my brother living quite a distance from me, I find that being surrounded by lots of noise from visitors warms my heart. It really is all about spending time with each other and feeling the love. ❤️
I love Thanksgiving because its the 1st day I allow myself to watch the original (vhs transferred to dvd) 1988 Muppet Family Special. I used to watch this with my mom, then my best friend/roommate, then my husband, and now my children. When
Kermit & Robin sing “It’s in Every One if Us”, I know Christmas is around the corner & I’m always reminded of God’s love & sacrifice for us. Even without that song, the show is a beautiful reminder of how families come in all shapes/sizes and how family is a beautiful thing, regardless of who makes up iur family. ?
We love to get the family together and everyone brings food to share, usually some games are played, and we always have sour cream raisin pie…a family favorite! ??
I’ve never had thanksgiving dinner in my home. We’re always at the in-laws. Hopefully one of these years, I’ll get to set a beautiful thanksgiving table like this one!
I love Thanksgiving, and my favorite part is being off work and getting to spend extra time with my husband and children.
I love Thanksgiving! I always dreamed of hosting Thanksgivng dinners at my home with an everyone’s welcome atmosphere. In reality, my mother in law claimed Thanksgiving early on in our marriage. I make the best of it, being thankful for what I have. So, I don’t have Thanksgiving day traditions yet, but someday.
The table is beautiful! Happy Thanksgiving!
We love to get the family together and everyone brings food to share, usually some games are played, and we always have sour cream raisin pie…a family favorite! ??
I think preparing the same food every year is just the best tradition!
Our Thanksgiving family tradition includes “fighting” over the wishbone!
For the last several years I have set our Thanksgiving table with your “I an thankful for” tag on each plate. Everyone fills out their tag, shares what they are thankful for specific to this year and then hangs it on the thankful tree before we eat our Thanksgiving meal. It has created a simple, authentic time of sharing what we are grateful for.
Thanksgiving is such a family feast and I love to change up the table decoration. Pier 1 would really make a big impression on the gratitude I have for my family and friends.
I love the tradition of the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade and cinnamon rolls on Thanksgiving morning!
We go on a hike (or nature walk) early Thanksgiving morning. Mid-hike we pause and share what we’re thankful for and pray. My favorite day of the year!
Getting up and watching the parade then helping my Mother to finalize all the extra dishes.
Love to watch football and relax in front of the TV after all the great food. Always a blessing to be together with family.
My family is very small. We always start the morning with croissants and hot cocoa and ease into the rest of the day. Just having family together is the best.
After we pray we go around the table and everyone says something they are thankful for over the last year.
Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go! I’ve lost my own Grandmothers now but we go to my childrens’ Grandmother’s now. I have enjoyed learning to prepare this special meal from many family matriarchs. The secret to it is the love that our Grandmothers have for their families! The table you set is beautiful. I’m a huge Pier One fan!
Beautiful display Emily!!! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday as well as it brings the meaning of the season to our family!! A week before we help pass out thanksgiving baskets to families in need, then we drive to my parents country home for a week of family activities including the towns annual lighting of the Christmas tree. We fry a turkey, watch the annual Macy’s parade, have a hayride and everyone gathers in the kitchen to cook together!! 13 grandkids, numerous aunts & uncles and the love ones. You realize how blessed you are at thanksgiving, no gifts needed just family!!
My favorite part of Thanksgiving is “thanks giving”: remembering how very blessed I am, and spending time with loved ones.
Our favorite Thanksgiving traditions center Around the food! Ha. We make the same recipies year after year from a big black notebook my mom put together in the 70s.
I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my home for 20 years now. I like having everyone come and I try to express to everyone that they can bring anyone they want to bring. this is a holiday where I want others to feel they have a home away from home. I love the simplistic elegance of your table. It elevates the meal for a holiday without feeling stuffy or contrived.
Our family always plays “turkey bingo”. A game that involves rolling dice and picking fun little wrapped up gifts. Stealing is encouraged for some good natured competion.
We each go around the table and say what we are thankful for.
We invite new friends every year to join us and we ask them ahead of time what makes it Thanksgiving for them. We have introduced a variety of new dishes, songs, games and family traditions this way and it makes every Thanksgiving memorable. We are love to offer hospitality in this way while sharing and learning while above being grateful.
Waking up to the smell of celery and onions sautéing in butter as my mom makes the stuffing!
Our tradition is to avoid the typical thanksgiving food and eat something exotic like sushi, Indian food, mexican, etc!
Loved this post! What a beautiful table. I just love having my family together from the start of the day until late at night. It is such a special day!
We usually celebrate Thanksgiving at my sister in loves. She hosts the entire clan (6 siblings total, with spouses and kids + boy/girlfriends or significant others and kids of their own now too). We all bring food to share and enjoy making wish lists and shopping! Unfortunately the fun of midnight shopping is now gone with stores opening on Thanksgiving and also with my youngest is employed at a retail establishment where they now can not ask off from Nov. 1 – January. Last year he had to work Thanksgiving night, so we missed Thanksgiving with family last year.
Every year we make a different version of the Thanksgiving Dinner. One year we made stuffing waffles with turkey, one year was turkey ossu buco one year we even did deep fried turkey, stuffing, and mash potato balls with gravy. It always is fun, and everyone is involved in making dishes.
What a beautiful, festive table you’ve set! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays too. A favorite family tradition is making the family recipe for sweet potato puff in the same dish that my mother used to make it in when I was little. Thankfully, my mother passed that baking dish on to me when I got married 11 years ago, and I’ve been using it for sweet potato puff every year! It’s great because my children know the baking dish now, and they help make the sweet potato puff with me. Such magical memories!
Just beautiful thanksgiving table… Love the flowers, especially the dusty pink!
You sure know how to set a table ?
I have a few favorites. I love going around the table and sharing what we are thankful for each year. Also, I love decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. My brother and I used to pull boxes out of the attic before my parents had even made breakfast on Friday morning.
For Thanksgiving, my family and friends come together for a time of food and football. I probably gain about ten pounds with all the delicious food that I eat, but it’s only once a year, so it’s worth it ;)
I always look forward to the food!
I love the Thabksgiving morning 5K with my sister in law! It’s the best–because she is the BEST!
My favorite tradition is the “Thankful Tree” that we make every year.
You were spot on – Thanksgiving is right up there with Christmas and Easter and is rich in our family’s traditions and memory makers! Your table was beautiful – I collect pears – everything pear – and was immediately drawn to the table scape! Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Spending time with family & friends.
Being thankful for our many blessings.
Simply Stunning!
Gathering around an ACTUAL table is my simple favorite. Usually for holiday gatherings with extended family we sit wherever – at the table or living room or family room for a spread out casual feel. But Thsnksgiving calls for crowding us around the table. And we are always thankful there…
No matter who’s hosting Thanksgiving dinner (or any family dinner) I’m stuck with the deviled eggs -a tradition I’ve tried to get out of and can’t (trust me I’ve tried)! I turn the parade on the same time the eggs go on the stove and call my mom, who’s 89 now & lives in FL, who also has the parade on, and we talk until the eggs are deviled. Did I mention I’m also responsible for 10 lbs of mashed potatoes? (Both were previously my mom’s jobs!) ?
I love the family dinner and being together with everyone. it’s a relaxing day and the calm before the storm of December. I love November! It’s my birthday month too! Fun giveaway! Thank you!
Thanksgiving dinner with the family God gave us. Then Friday is the best holiday ever. Tree Day, the annual celebration of Thanksgiving with the family we have chosen. Aka friends.
We celebrate with family! Table full of delicious southern dishes. This year we will sit around the table with my 91 year old father. Such a blessing!
I love, love, love Thanksgiving and we usually have a houseful. Our favorite tradition has become the games we play after dinner with prizes awarded. We’ve played bingo, So you think you can, treasure hunts, survivor challenges, and races with toy helicopters. My husband has a ball figuring out the games and challenges and no one falls asleep after dinner!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is sharing a meal & spending time with loved ones…oh, & the post-dinner nap! :)
I love being able to catch up with family, have a good glass of wine, and drawing names for Christmas after the meal.
My favorite tradition is getting together yhe Saturday after Thanksgiving with all the females on my moms side and making a dozen different recipes of Christmas cookies.
Definitely the food and being surrounded by family!! Its such a warm and inviting holiday!!
My entire grandmother’s side of the family gathers at her church for a late lunch. We love making little place cards for all the dishes with “punny” drawings on them. (Rolls, for example, a dice “rolling” across the page.)
Our favorite Thanksgiving tradition is to try one daring new recipe every year. Sometimes it’s a win and sometimes it’s a flop, but it kills the perfectionistic streak of the holiday performance and adds a dash of experimentation and fun. And of course, this is how we’ve discovered some of our favorite recipes! :)
I love the classy simplicity of all of your table settings! Beautiful, but not stuffy. What could be more welcoming than that?!
A few years ago, I had a lot of dietary restrictions and my mom and I cooked all my favorite Thanksgiving things with ingredients I could eat. She did that every year as long as I ate that way, and even still brings out some of those recipes. It’s a tradition that reminds me how kind and inclusive and wonderful my mom is, and that the holidays are really about loving each other and being together.
Family hanging out eating, laughing, sharing stories and giving thanks, every year this happens and it feels my heart.
Beautiful! Thanksgiving is my very favorite Holiday – spending time with friends and family and enjoying wonderful food without the pressure of buying gifts.
My mom’s cornbread dressing made by the pounds to feed an army. It’s just not T-giving without it!
What a beautiful table so simple and elegant. I love Thanksgiving for being together with my family and my children. Everyone looks forward to the day & just being together. We look back at where we are today and feel truly blessed to all being back together again.
My father- in-law always made chocolate dream whip pie for Thanksgiving dessert. When he died, each of his children now make it in their homes for Thanksgiving, if not all together. It has now been passed down and the grandchildren make it. It is wonderful to see the passing down thru the generations of a favorite food item.
Happy Halloween and soon-to-be Thanksgiving! Em, I really loved seeing your beautiful but simple holiday table!! Your descriptions helped a lot, and the items from Pier 1 are really quite pretty and charming. MY favorite Thanksgiving tradition would have to be our HUGE dinner at my Grandpop and Aunt Faye’s each year. I so enjoyed how perfectly she cooked each and every dish, right down to my favorite, STUFFING with GRAVY!! She taught me everything she knew about setting a holiday table, and I have never tired of preparing it, even after 42 years!!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is doing a Thankful Tree where we write what we are thankful for throughout the month of November. We also love decorating for Christmas after the Thanksgiving feast. Love it!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is my Mother’s homemade dinner rolls. They represent her great skill as a baker and the love she gives to her family.
We have a huge family gathering with lots of food and beautiful decorations. We talk about what we are most thankful for.
I’m an American living in the U.K. (my husband is English), so Thanksgivng is a total novelty! Of course life goes on as normal on Thanksgiving here. Whether we have time for a proper Thanksgiving feast, or pizza between rugby practice and a football match, our favourite family tradition is to say what each of us are thankful for in the last year!! It’s always such a blessing to stop and remember and share thankfulness!!
Being with family, by that I mean parents, siblings and their families, aunts, uncles and cousins. We share what we are thankful for, laugh until tears run down our cheeks. It is always a wonderful time of the year…..
This is beautiful!! My favorite thanksgiving tradition is being with family and going around saying what we are thankful for. We also do a thankful tree in our family and we all write on leaves the whole month long what we are thankful for.
Going around the table and saying what we are each thankful for…it’s fun to hear all the answers from the little grandchildren all the way up to the grandparents. I love that this holiday is all about family and traditions and spending time together and not about gifts as many other holidays are. It is the calm before the storm for getting together with family before the christmas rush takes over!!
It sounds so little, but I loved putting black olives on all 10 of my fingers and eating them off…Thanksgiving was the only time my Mom would let me get away with it! Now, I love seeing my 3 boys do it too!
Mama Lu’s Potato Egg Rolls passed on from Louisiana to New Hampshire to North Carolina to Okinawa to NH to California to Wisconsin to Washington ( east to west side) and back to California.
Served with butter and Mayhaw jelly, grape , raspberry and blackberry jams. Make great turkey sandwiches with leftovers or just plain!
I love going on a family walk/hike after an early Thanksgiving dinner. Especially if it’s a clear, crisp day.
The most special tradition for me is that my daughter makes her pecan pie. She’s been doing that for me since she was little and that makes me happy.
I l♥ve all things fall / autumn!!! Your tablescape’s depiction of bounty is simple and beautiful without being pretentious or overdone. Keep up the amazing work. You always provide me with great ideas. When I grow up I want to be you (lol).
Many blessings,
Cynthia ♥
Family and friends are first, setting the table is second and duplicating my grandmother’s coleslaw is third! Happy Fall to you, your table is just beautiful. I want to move to Gig Harbor and be your neighbor;-)
Thanksgiving morning starts with the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade then into the kitchen to start preparing the meal. The day before I make the pies and what ever else I can to get ahead . I always enjoy setting the table and making the place settings and center decor special and one of a kind. Every year the day seems to vary on who can come which often includes neighbors and family.
the keep dad get to cook something (or assemble) something and we always include in it something that might be unique for them like cracking big bowls of pecans or making squeezing a grocery bag of citrus (i into juice or cracking dozens of eggs something that’s a big production for them
One of our favorite “traditions” is that the women make the thanksgiving meal while the men clean up after the meal! It gives everyone a chance to be involved and time to enjoy themselves!
Every year my parents trade off who makes the stuffing – dad uses bread/toast, and my mom uses cornbread. Then when the grandkids started showing up, my mom relinquished her rights to make stuffing :)
It’s weird how I didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving growing up due to cultural differences and now I love it as an adult! So there is not a set tradition yet but I would say that I love to cook the meal. I have attended Thanksgiving where canned items were served and it just didn’t cut it. Cooking a meal from scratch in the kitchen is a tradition I would like to keep.
My favorite tradition … every year my husband makes the turkey and the stuffing – it’s his specialty. The tradition is he complains every year on that day about the kids being in and out of the kitchen while he’s trying to cook. I somehow manage the other 364 days a year. Btw, I make the sides and desert .
DESSERT!
Love your style! This Thanksgiving table would work perfectly for our family feels natural & casual with a few touches of fancy. Love it! Not too formal over here. Favorite Thanksgiving tradition a long slow meal with the family gathered and plenty of good conversation. +games! A good round of board or card games (while a few sneak away for a nap) is just the best, lots of lingering Thanksgiving Day. <3
Beautiful, elegant and tasteful table, Emily!
My favorite new tradition, since both my parents died several years ago, is to have a small candle at each place setting. We go around the table, one at a time, light our candles and say who we bring in our hearts to the table with us this year. The flame represents their spirit with us, though separated physically. It may be loved ones who are deployed, dear friends celebrating Thanksgiving elsewhere, friends or family who have died, or even an author, artist or musician whose work touched us profoundly. It is always interesting who people mention and why! Sometimes this sharing brings tears or laughter, but always a depth of sharing.
Love that tablescape! My favorite tradition is celebrating with family and all the wonderful food- especially sweet potato casserole!
Favorite Thanksgiving tradition is simply being together with friends and family!
We have started a new Thanksgiving tradition which is a church family dinner.
Sooo pretty! Our fav tradition is decorating sugar cookies in christmas shapes/colors in the evening. Bring on Christmas!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is just gathering with our family. We all meet in our hometown for food, fun, laughs and love. Living many miles apart, this is the one time of year that we all get together–parents, children, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and friends. Such a fun, festive time! And then…decorating for Christmas comes soon after!!
Love your tablescape! As a military family, our tradition usually involves friends not family. We typically host all of our friends who don’t visit family over Thanksgiving then those friends turn into family.
We are a military family who has moved all over the country and now only have one child left at home. We’ve eaten more than our share of Thanksgiving meals in the dining facility on base/post but the one thing that is a constant is I make pistachio pudding fluff/salad to be eaten at some point of the day. With our boys that are currently serving in the military I send a care package containing all of the ingredients plus a gift card for a local grocery store to buy the coolwhip. They are able to have a little bit of home even when we are separated by many miles.
We start by praying and talking about what we are thankful for then we all gather for a Thanksgiving Feast with each person bringing their signature food items. Mine are cranberry relish and pumpkin bread. After dinner, we play board games together. Last year we started a new tradition by inviting all of the inlaws of all of my siblings. We will have about 40 people this year!
We line up picnic tables on our patio so we can fit plenty of people. We always have room for friends, family, and any college students who are unable to travel home!
We don’t really have any Thansgiving traditions yet… like most everyone else, just the “tradition” and effort of family and friends being together is special. <3
I too love Thanksgiving! And I’m excited to host this year for my husbands family. One of my favorite thing is we actually have a gingerbread house making contest on thanksgiving, I guess it’s our way of welcoming the Christmas season as we have a turkey sandwich and one more piece of pie. ;)
Just getting together with family, enjoying good food, and good conversation
We have moved a lot over the years. The one Thanksgiving tradition that has stuck is bringing new friends into our home each year. These friends have become our new extended family. I love that this tradition keeps our “family” growing no matter where we are.
Who knew figs were so pretty?!? And…I’m curious how they taste? Do you eat them like that or are they just for the pretty “wow” factor?
A friend gave me a grateful banner last year AFTER thanksgiving. I’m excited to begin the tradition of adding something I’m grateful for daily this year!
Beautiful tablescape!! I have two favorite traditions!
First, our grandmother usually hosts Thanksgiving and gives my sister and I the honor of styling the table while she cooks in the kitchen. While we get to set tables for a living (we own a wedding planning business together) this table is extra special because it’s for our family!
My second favorite tradition is during dinner we take turns saying what we are thankful for. It’s a really special time shared and we get to say the things we all too often forget to say to the ones we love.
Aggie football is our favorite Thanksgiving day tradition! Every other year we are in Aggieland having a huge Thanksgiving tailgate, complete with candles, tablecloths and sit down dinner outside. I LOVE eating Thanksgiving dinner outside!
I absolutely love Thanksgiving. My family with siblings and all is too large for us to set such a beautiful table but my own family of 5, this is very doable. Thanks!
It’s beautiful!! Favorite part is just being together and enjoying a yummy meal…we don’t have exclusive traditions about how that looks or even what we eat? The family being together is my favorite!
We take the time to write down what we are thankful for before dinner. Putting these thoughts in writing helps to keep a focus of gratitude.
I love Thanksgiving and your table is beautiful. I think my favorite tradition is the day after and going out to hunt for our Christmas tree. I can’t wait to take our daughter for the first time this year!
Beautiful! This inspires me to do something different with my table this Thanksgiving.
Love it. A few favorite traditions are running a 5k every Thanksgiving morning and going around the table after dinner and having everyone say what he is most thankful for from the last year.
For years we start off the fall and Thanksgiving season with our Thankful Tree. We tie scriptures, “I’m thankful for”… and leaves on branches that I arrange in a vase. It’s a great reminder to have a heart of gratitude. Having my husband and adult children at the table for Thanksgiving is the best way I celebrate. Nothing like family.
Simple yet beautiful! I’m so excited to see all your house posts!!
I love all things Thanksgiving! It’s all of my favorite food, weather (still sunny in FL but a little less humid) and getting to spend time with family and friends is just the best!
Lovely table, Emily! So chic and effortless! I asked my 16 yr old twins what was there favorite Thanksgiving tradition. Of course, my boy Ryan was simple: eating the delicious food! My girl Mikayla, deep thinker that she is, said getting to help make the pumpkin pies and helping me cook! I always make cinnamon rolls the morning of Thanksgiving. It is easy and they love it! My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is all of us getting together and each being a special part of the gathering! I always do the turkey and have been known to make my mom/sister cry because it was so pretty!! Lol! My sister usually does squash cassarole or tomato pie using veggies from her partner who is a farmer! My mother makes her southern dressing and sweet potato cassarole (which is so full of Jack Daniels that is intoxicatingly delicious!) The memories of these special gatherings will always be in my heart. This is really my favorite time of year! Counting our blessings!!
We celebrate by eating and then with a trip to the local garden supply super store. My dad hires a limo service to come pick up all the ladies, after the dishes are done of course, and take us with drinks in hand to and from the store. He gives each one of the ladies spending money and lets us loose to buy Christmas decor for our houses. It is such an over the top treat and something my girls looked forward to being old enough to join in. Your welcome to join in if you ever find yourself in Houston, TX for Thanksgiving.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is making pumpkin pie in the morning with the Macy’s parade on in the background! My daughter has now joined me for this special time. :)
I spent every Thanksgiving of my childhood at my Aunt Cheryl’s house. It was always beautiful and special and traditional and perfect. One of the many traditions that I am carrying on is the way she used old, classic jello molds to make the most beautiful cranberry rings. There are so many things my aunt has done for years that I hope my girls will love about Thanksgiving.
Your table is absolutely beautiful, with yours as inspiration, I look forward to creating one too. I would love to know what type of tree your greens came from? It looks a little like tarragon but larger… I also loved the napkins so much I went and bought them today!
Thank you for the beautiful gratitude messages as well. I love the work you do!
Love the menu planning and letting pre-teens add their own dishes to the menu. Being with family is a gift!
I make it a point to cook almost every day, so come Thanksgiving (and Mother’s Day), I need a break! So we go out to eat!! haha! But I’ll def use these tips to make every day a little more special.
Your table is lovely. I really like the simple greenery. We love homemade noodles! My noodles (and the chicken stock) are already made and in the freezer.
My favorite tradition is sharing Thanksgiving with family, friends, and folks who might not have family in the area. I love to cook, bake, and set a cozy, welcoming table where we can gather. Lots of board games and football are also a fun part of our Thanksgiving. God bless!
Our family likes to make a gratitude tree. We use branches in a jar or vase and hang paper leaves on them. We add leaves everyday during November with what we are grateful for written on them.
Doing a thankful tree with the kids. :)
As a child, we always traveled from Texas to my aunt’s house in Mississippi. We always watched a string of holiday movies and went to “town” on Black Friday and went shopping the day after.
My favorite part of Thanksgiving is being with family. Traditionally, we have turkey and dressing with lots of delicious side dishes. This year is a time of transition so maybe we will begin new traditions. Beautiful table setting!
You created a lovely table. I have a small table so I can’t do anything that fancy. But it is pretty.
This is a beautiful post ~ right in the perfect balance of organic and elegant. I love the planning part of the holidays. It’s a counterpoint to the hectic holidays with a full house & a full calendar!
We love to have each person bring something small that represents one thing that they are thankful for, and we incorporate it into the display, or they bring copies of black and white photos of their thankful things and we lay them randomly overlapping down the table, to make a runner. It;s also fun to do an ABC of things we are thankful for, and to see how many things we are thankful for that begin with each letter of the alphabet! Once we listed more than 200! This is fun for the children, too.
After dinner to work off food, certain family members crank up the tunes and have a dance party! While holding a glass of wine no less. it’s always entertaining. The look on my husbands face the first time he witnessed this was priceless!
Beautiful, elegant, simple table dressing. ❤️
I love enjoying the day with family and then my girlfriends and my sister and I have made a tradition of meeting early the next morning for Christmas shopping. Nothing crazy, just an excuse to hang out and drink yummy coffee while we look for gifts for our families.
Thanksgiving is the last great non-commercial holiday. It is a comfort in these troubled times. I love your cheese tray presentation..so organic yet elegant. And I am not who they named the lazy Susan after!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is mostly just being with family. I love holding hands with lots of people in prayer over a huge meal, because it reminds me of the feast we will enjoy in heaven together!
We have the same dinner for Thanksgiving and Christmas. With that in mind we have two traditions. The stuffing is my grandmother’s recipe. And we put the corn in an indent in the mashed potatoes and then pour gravy over it.
We love watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade as we are preparing the meal for a mid afternoon feast.
I truly love all the cooking and baking. And than, leftovers for days with no cooking required!
We celebrate with family. My husband and I enjoy cooking the dinner together.
Some of my kids live in other states so it is always special when we all get together in one place. Thanksgiving is a little more relaxed than Christmas for me because I don’t have to make sure all the gifts are just right! We have always gotten out the good china for our Thanksgiving dinner and your table setting has inspired me to make this year’s table even more special. Thanks, Emily for your thankful and cheerful spirit!
We really enjoy having family over for a big meal. We often look for people we know who don’t have family in our area and invite them over to join us. Right before we eat we go around the table and each person tells what they are thankful for. It’s a sweet time!
You’ve set such a beautiful table & what a healthy, delicious looking “spread”!
Our favorite part of Thanksgiving is being with family-as many as can make it. Love the day after just as much…delicious leftovers & way more relaxed!
Just being able to get all of our family together this day is wonderful! We almost always have the same menu and my nephews don’t ever want it to change. ;-)
Family and feasting…does it get much better? My favorites from my Granny’s kitchen: cornbread dressing, homemade rolls and cranberry freeze! I love Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. We have live away from family for 20 years, and throughout all of our long-distance moves, we’ve filled our table with friends who have become like family. So much to be thankful for.
Running an annual 5 mile Turkey Trot with my siblings and our spouses! My oldest brother and I started the tradition back in high school!
What a beautiful table you have set!
I love the gathering of family around the Thanksgiving table, and enjoying the season together. The meal is made more special by using family recipes that have been passed down from our mothers and grandmothers.
Thanksgiving is always a wonderful day spent with family…lots of delicious homemade food and hand crafted chocolates and caramels made by my sister in laws. We also started gathering clothes and baby necessities ahead of time to make bundles for babies in underprivileged countries. We have such an abundance compared to so many and it’s some small way we can help to share the blessings we’ve been given…I hope you and yours have a lovely thanksgiving day!!!
My favorite tradition on Thanksgiving is to share what we are grateful for. My kids usually share in writing somehow and prepare it ahead of time. The preparation before the day really gets your heart ready to count your blessings.
Running an annual 5 mile Turkey Trot is my favorite family tradition! My parents, siblings (and now our spouses) all wake up early for this race! My brothers and I are especially competitive and each try for the winning family time! Getting fresh air and exercise is a fun way to gear up for a day of feasting!
My favorite traditions is sharing around the table a few things that we are thankful for! This year we will get to celebrate twice once with my husband’s family and once with my parents. So I will get to put together a hostess gift and help my mama set up her table for our second day of thanks. I just love spending time with our family and reflecting on how much we have to be thankful for! Cultivating a spirit of gratitude daily is so life giving! I love your ideas and tablescape so gorgeous. Elegant simplicity is my favorite and you totally hit that mark! ??
I love cooking family recipes that have been passed through the family -my grandmother’s dressing, my mom’s casserole, my father in law’s rolls. It makes family time even sweeter especially to remember those loved ones no longer with us.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and we travel to Pennsylvania every year to be with family. My favorite new tradition is Friday after thanksgiving lunch at the local Victory brewery and then over to another family-filled party at my cousins new home.
I will never get over how beautiful Eastern Pennsylvania is in the fall!!
My birthday is near thanksgiving every year & I like to enjoy pumpkin pie instead of birthday cake. The past 4 years, my hubby has made the turkey in the meat smoker & it’s a new fave tradition because it is delicious!
One of our newer traditions is playing bingo on Thanksgiving day. Anyone at any age can play and the laughter is non-stop.
My favorite is just being with family and watching football!
We go to a friend’s farmhouse about 2.5 hours away with some of our closest friends. The kids love it…everyone is unplugged…and on Thanksgiving we all stay in our pjs and cook and enjoy a big dinner together. A tradition all of us look forward to every year. :)
Black Friday shopping (although it’s gotten a bit obnoxious these days!) and cutting our Christmas tree!! Love your new home, by the way!!
We have six children, and each child draws another child’s name for Christmas, on Thanksgiving night.
Of course, we love celebrating over food and fellowship, but our children look SO forward to knowing who they get to buy a gift for!
My husband and I will take them each out to purchase their gift during the weeks leading up until Christmas. It truly is one of our favorite traditions!
I LOVE stuffing! There’s never enough. But I love being with my family the most!
I love watching my boys play football while dinner is cooking then playing board games with them late into the night.
I love Thanksgiving. Everything about it. After our big dinner for 10, it’s our tradition to take a long walk – weather permitting. We also like to take a few outdoor family pics since it’s a time for us all to be together. In years past we have been a big scattered so this year will be a biggie for us to do that. I can’t wait!
Our Thanksgiving day routine is my favorite tradition. We start making stuffing in our pajamas while watching the parade. Later in the day, we sit down to dinner around 4pm so that we can be hungry again for leftovers sandwiches around 9pm, YUM. I hope to add a tradition this year and do a 3k walk/run before the parade…we can be back in our pajamas after that!
My husband and siblings (9 total) rent a big, old lodge on a lake in NH for the long weekend. It has rustic charm, but accommodating for all the families. We enjoy lots of food and catching up with each other.
Eating prime rib with cousins back in Massachusetts with huge appetizer spread with lots of meat and cheese!! Thanks for sharing Emily!
The Friday after thanksgiving my family has a bonfire and invites our neighbors and friends. We always look forward to catching up with everyone!
Turkey and bacon-wrapped green beans. Also being with family and friends and playing games all day. While we eat, of course.
Once again, you’ve inspired me! I’m thinking a trip to Pier 1 is definitely in order. ?
What a beautiful table! My favorite Thanksgiving tradition…green bean casserole! Ha-Ha! Who doesn’t love canned soup mixed with canned green beans and canned crispy onions. ;) As crazy as it sounds, it was a staple at my mom’s Thanksgiving table and still is. My siblings and I look forward to it every year even though we are all grown up and have kids of our own. I guess it just makes us feel like little kids again!
Since moving out west to Gig Harbor, we always celebrate the day with just our immediate family since our extended family is far away. Every year my husband makes his “famous” stuffing and prepares the turkey while I watch the parade, and then it’s my turn to whip up our yummy side dishes. Right before we sit down to say Grace and enjoy dinner we ALWAYS turn on the Nutcracker Ballet soundtrack. Once we’ve eaten we go around the table and share what we’re thankful for. Every few years we gather with friends for a dessert party.
I decorate sugar cookies with all the kids.
Beautiful. Can I come to your house for thanksgiving? ;)
We now have a smaller family gathering since some family members have moved far away. (Try Australia!!) I still enjoy setting a tablescape but am certainly challenged by your table setting. Simply beautiful. Just preparing all of the good food to eat has always been a special memory whether with my parents or now with my husband. What a helper!! Keep all things simple, enjoy your family (miss mine) and take time to appreciate all that we have here in the USA. Happy Turkey Day to all!
Gorgeous table! In our family full of grown kids, each person chooses a favorite side dish to work together to prepare. It ensures that everyone has at least one favorite dish to eat alongside the turkey, and helps us all to share and enjoy the prep work in a happy, crowded kitchen.
Too many memories to recount – but one of the best is seeing my daughter and husband working together in the kitchen to get the turkey in the oven!
I love this table and cannot wait to see all the new adventures of your new house!! I hope to win, Pier 1 is such a go to spot for great decor! I think my favorite tradition is Thanksgiving seems to be the holiday we start using all the funny puns from Christmas Vacation. Like “save the neck for me, Clark” lol!! So fun! all the best!
Watching Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in my pj’s with a roaring fire!
Beautiful table – and once again – thanks so much for your “thankful tags”! We always eat a great meal at my parent’s with all of my siblings – spouses – grandkids – greats, etc. Every year my mother tells me she can’t wait for me to have a piece of her pumpkin pie and that she thinks its the best she’s ever made. Every year – I say, “Mom, I don’t LIKE pumpkin pie” – to which she always responds, “I know you’ll like this – just try it.” Even with lots of convincing, I have never tried it and she’ll admit that I really must NOT like it. Last year she NEVER asked and when I asked her why she didn’t ask, she told me, “why would I ask you – you NEVER eat pumpkin pie!” I don’t know what made the 2015 Thanksgiving different – but I’ll probably be disappointed if she doesn’t ask this year – afterall, It’s tradition!
The pears look so good the way you used them. We always take turns saying one thing we are thankful for this year.
We write down what we are thankful for,
On small cards, or leaf-cards, read them aloud and praise the Lord. We also save the cards each year which I especially love, because then we can read through our past graces, and thank the Lord once more.
Beautiful Table! We celebrate Thanksgiving with a big family dinner, spend time together, and have the Lions football game on – some watch and some don’t ;)
Since I was little, we have gotten together with all of my relatives on my dad’s side for Thanksgiving, as most lived in our area. It’s harder now that the cousins have families of our own, but we still try to meet whenever we can.
Take out!!! My husband and I often live away from family and I don’t want to cook a huge dinner for us so we get take out and relax as a family!
Love it! We always take a nice long walk followed by a nice long nap before pie time! (Sometimes the walk turns into ultimate frisbee ?)
Our family loves to bring in greens from our yard to decorate not only on the table, but also sprigs in vases mounted on the wall in our bathroom, or vases in our guest bath. We also add a few to the mantle and beside the sink. I love the way that brings the season outside, inside! Our kids can participate in gathering too, which for us means getting outside even in the rain and mud – boots required!
Emily! I love this table it is just beautiful! I love incorporating all of these same elements! I can’t wait to use some of these ideas! My favorite thanks giving tradition is running the turkey trot as a family and picking up donuts on the way home while we wait for the turkey! speaking of turkeys the kiddos now 3 and 6 have their own little tradition-i love watching hem grow- their grandparents have an inflatable turkey and they are counting down the days to bring him out for the season! yay for traditions!
My favorite tradition is dinner with my family and playing board games afterwards!
My favourite Thanksgiving tradition is a big walk in the woods. It’s so easy to be thankful when you are surrounded by crunchy leaves, huge trees, and gentle birds.
Thanksgiving is my husbands favorite holiday! We’ve made it a tradition to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In 2004 while dating and making extra money to pay for our wedding we both worked part-time at Macy’s and joined our stores bus trip to be clowns in the parade. It was so fun! Another family tradition is to work on a 1,000 piece puzzle.
What lovely ideas! I can’t wait to set my Thanksgiving table with a few of your tips! My favorite tradition is all month long my family writes down something their thankful for on these little blank tags & we hang them on branches placed in our dining table centerpiece. Then on Thanksgiving we take turns reading what everyone was so thankful for all month long. I love reading what my boys are so grateful for. And I feel like it helps set the tone for our favorite time of year besides Thanksgiving…CHRISTMAS!! Cheers!
Thanksgiving has been at my house for the last 10 years so we are getting it down by now. I love watching my nieces and nephews as well as my own children marry and their spouses adding new dishes to the table. We live in the mountain west but now have a southern boy among us and that means his grandma’s recipe for Mac and cheese at the table. My nephew’s wife has a Central American background and we have expanded new dishes from her family’s homelands. As we evolve the meal evolves yet some things will always remain the same. My grandmother’s carrot pudding from Denmark and my other grandmother’s pumpkin pie. The meal helps us remember where we come from and how we all blend together.
Our family tradition has always been a buffet of traditional Thanksgiving fixings (turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, candied yams, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie) & Latin food (pork roast called pernil, sweet plantains, arroz con gandules which is rice with pigeon beans, beef empanadas). Everything is made from scratch and everyone contributes to making the food which is the best part. We listen to a variety of music from 80’s to latin to worship and there is an abundance of laughter and story telling as we cook. After we have blessed the food and stuffed ourselves, we play an array of family games and end the night with a movie.
This year we won’t all be together since my husband & I moved to WA. But I have the honor of having my in-laws over and my mom is flying up from CA to spend Thanksgiving with us!! So I am excited to host and still carry on our family traditions in a new state and with new family.
My favorite tradition has always been getting together with family, enjoying good food–including my grandma’s stuffing recipe. She baked it in a large dish separate from the turkey, and we’d even eat it sometimes not with turkey, but almost like a casserole!
My Mom has hosted Thanksgiving all of my daughters’ lives until recently (my Mom is 86 and we are a large undertaking). Last year, my daughter and her husband hosted, how cool is that? They did us proud by attending to every detail in a beautiful and most importantly gracious way. And it was delicious!
My favorite tradition…. food wise, the sweet potato casserole and the caramel pecan pie. Otherwise, setting the table with my girls, getting the pretty silverware out…and last but not least, We cut a tree branch from one of our trees and nestle it in a pretty container. We cut out leaves from fall hued cardstock and each Monday in November we all write something we are thankful for and hang it on the tree. On Thanksgiving we read them all aloud and sometimes try to guess who wrote it.
Turkey,homemade dressing (most people call it stuffing), and pie…are our usual traditions..one of the new traditions we’ve done is doing the usual taking turns to say what your thankful for and along with that, saying something that you appreciate about the person sitting to your right, or your left, or across the table from you..n so on! Its been a blessing to hear our children express appreciation for each other!
I love being together with my family for Thanksgiving, and just before we share our turkey dinner together, we go out to the backyard and take our annual family photo!
We have gotten to the point where the next generation, daughters and daughters in law have joined in to take turn hosting. It is great seeing their take on things and what traditions are passed down, love it!
I’m loving your blog! It’s one of the only ones I subscribe to…and it just keeps getting better and better! Love your Christian perspective and your enthusiasm and spontaneity! Keep up the great work!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is a thankfulness journal we started early on in our married life. Every year we break the journal out and ask everyone to write in why they are thankful. It’s so fun to peek back each year and get a snapshot of our lives, and see who sat around our table!
The Turkey Trot, watching the Thanksgiving Day parade next to a warm fire with family.
Our celebration of Thanksgiving includes retelling the story of our oldest child’s birth. She was born on Thanksgiving Day, and is one of our greatest gifts. We are so thankful for her!
Love the look of this beautiful, natural thanksgiving table! My favorite thanksgiving tradition is going around the table and sharing what we are thankful for. It is such a lovely time shared with family and friends, where we take time out of our busy lives to slow down and focus on being thankful.
My favorite tradition is an emerging one. I get together with our nearest extended family (my mom’s siblings and their kids.) Since my husband and I are the youngest and poorest of the adults we contribute to the meal by bringing a non-pie dessert and corralling the kids (ages baby through high school) into fun and productive projects to promote gratitude. Last year my aunt provided the supplies for us to make adorable place cards which doubled as season hair clips!
I love your table setting! Pier one isn’t somewhere I usually shop so I was especially impressed with all the great pieces from there that I loved – thank you for sharing! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and can’t wait to hear all about the new memories you will be making with your family in your new house! :)
Going to my grandparents with all the aunts and uncles and cousins. Smelling my beautiful grandma’s cooking and the wood fire place burning.
We always celebrate at home with family….as many as we can gather. Our menu never varies, there is always football on…but the conversation goes on long after our meal is done! ;)
We have Thanksgiving at my Aunt’s house every year and a Thanksgiving craft afterward.
We have Thanksgiving at my Aunt’s house and we have a Thanksgiving craft afterward. It is so fun.
I have everyone go around and tell what they are thankful for!!!!
This is a little embarrassing and everyone in our family makes fun of us for it. Each Thanksgiving, my dad and I make chopped liver. It’s the one thing we do, just the two of us. It’s our attempt to re-create my Jewish grandmother’s chopped liver, though she never left a recipe or directions for what she did. She’s been gone so long no one remembers what it actually tasted like, so each year we do our best to figure it out (leaving no notes behind for ourselves to follow the next year).
We’ve tried to get others to join in our festivities, but they just wrinkle their noses and make fun of us instead. It’s okay, though. It’s a special thing I have with my Dad (even if I don’t really like chopped liver either).
I really like the greenery on your table, it’s so fresh. Our Thanksgiving’s have been very laid back in recent years – comfy clothes with elastic waistbands being a priority and the kids set the table with all of the fancy dishes, including wine glass for milk.
Best Thanksgiving tradition is going to the Country Club Plaza after having had yummy food and watch the lights turn on to begin the holiday season.
We always start our meal with 3 things we are greatdul for. I love that my kids never mention toys. A good reminder that family is our greatest blessing!
Nice work! I just love figs and cheese together!!
I love the tradition of family, food, and Cowboys football at my Mom and Dad’s house each year. A few years in a row my husband, kids and I have run in a Turkey Trot race early on Thanksgiving Day. Can’t say it’s fully a tradition yet but it has made some great memories!
Making my family’s famous smoked turkey. The recipe passed from my GrandDad to my parents, and is so flavorful, my dad had a little side business making and selling them! Now that I’m a wife and mom, I’m making it for my own family!
We always have monkey bread for breakfast on Thanksgiving as we watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
We look through the black friday ads and there is always lots of great conversation and laughter. We also exchange names for Christmas! Its always a relaxing day!! Thanks for the giveaway!!
My favorite tradition?! Agh! How to pick just one? We usually go on a run together that morning before the big meal. My family is huge – 7 siblings and adding in laws and little ones often. I wouldn’t be surprised if people thought we were an organized 5k or something. Tied with that is sitting around the table talking after the meal, laughing and reliving favorite family memories and of course sipping a nice red together. So thankful for this time of year and family to spend it with!
Our family & friends, and most years a few extra college students. ( My husband teaches at BYU-Idaho ) celebrate by having a lovely Turkey dinner with all the fixings, and of course pies for dessert. We love to relax and enjoy one another’s company, play games and watch football. I am Thankful for friends and family to share the holidays with!
I love that my side of the family gathers at Thanksgiving.
I love your table! So gorgeous. We go around the table and share what we are thankful for. It’s such a joy being with our family for Thanksgiving.
Our family has not been able to all be together for Thanksgiving in many years, but one thing that we all do, scattered around the country, is to invite guests that aren’t already part of the family. Thanksgiving has always been an “all-inclusive” holiday for us!
We’ve been doing a gratitude tree each November. A big branch stuck in a vase and small paper leaves or tags to write things we’re grateful for. We tie them on the branch with some baker’s twine. We leave out the tags all month and for anyone to add to the tree.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is making a thankful “tree.” We gather twigs from our yard and put them in a vase. Then each of our three kids, my husband, and I, take little paper “ornaments” and write something we are thankful for. We try and each do three or four things and hang them on the twigs We leave the little thankful tree up through the whole holiday season. So, as Christmas tempts us to think of things we want, we are reminded to be thankful for all that we have been given.
I love your table! So gorgeous. We go around the table and share what we are thankful for. It’s such a joy being with our family for Thanksgiving.
Each year my family goes to our family farm to get away and relax. We cook on an open fire and end up sitting and telling stories long into the night. It’s a great time to escape and focus on family for a while.
We start our Thanksgiving dinner by going around the table and all saying what we are grateful for!
Thanks-tablecloth…just add sharpies
My grandmother used to have a craft project for the six of us grandkids at Thanksgiving and many other holidays. I still have some of the things I made. :) No grandkids for us yet, but I think the great-niece and nephews might enjoy making something at the holidays now.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is ending the evening with a “Friendsgiving” each year. We spend the day with family and then wind down with good friends and wine – I love the ability to connect and do life with both kinds of family on Thanksgiving. :)
My favorite tradition is hosting an “Orphan’s Thanksgiving.” In college and grad school I would invite everyone who wasn’t going home for the holiday to come over for Thanksgiving. I would make the turkey and maybe a side or two, everyone would bring their favorite dish, and we would drink wine and have a great time. Even now that I’m married and have a family, we still invite any friends who are around to come over and eat with us.
Your thanksgiving table turned out so pretty! I, too, love the salt and pepper bowls. Neutral, but classy and interesting.
One of my favorite traditions is passing out tags for everyone to write down something they are thankful for. It is a great way to look back over the last year and see how far you’ve come.
It’s the beach for Thanksgiving for us! Rosemary Beach in the panhandle of Florida makes for a relaxing day at the beach and dinner around the table after it’s dark. My mom and sister and I jump in the kitchen late afternoon with wine and work on the table. It’s hard to set a beautiful table at the beach with lots of kids and not much in the way of tablescapes. We try to incorporate things from outside and keeping it simple. Dinner is capped off by a toast to thankfulness and the many blessing of the year!
My two sons are great cooks, just like their father. On Thanksgiving, we have official “throw downs” ! Last year it was side dishes — no potatoes. The year before — Stuffing. We change it up every year. After dinner we vote. But with this tradition, everyone is a winner! Yum!
Mom and I go through the Black Friday ads while the dinner is cooking with the Thanksgiving Day Parade in the background. Then after dinner we watch the National Dog Show.
This year my husband and I will be celebrating our 40th anniversary on Thanksgiving Day. Yes, we were married the morning of Thanksgiving because we needed the long weekend to drive from Florida (where I lived and we were married) to New Jersey (where my husband had a new job). My favorite tradition is being thankful for him.
Lovely table!
This Thanksgiving tradition is new to me.
I’m Italian and we don’t celebrate it in my country.
Now, having been in the US for 3 years, and having just had my second baby, I think is time to start our own tradition so that my children will have such good memories as you described.
I need to find a culinary masterpiece to substitute the turkey though, since we are vegan… Let’s get inspired!
This hasn’t become a tradition, but the year my Mom roasted several Cornish hens in place of a turkey, has become a favorite Thanksgiving memory. I don’t know why I love it so much-it was just a simple, fun change and I will never forget it.
We write what we are thankful for in a thanksgiving journal. It’s so great to see how blessed we’ve been from year to year.
Beautiful table! I love that it just makes you want to sit and linger with loved ones! I love getting up to watch the parade with my kids, all of us in our pjs:). And of course food- my mom and I had a tradition of trying one new recipe for Thanksgiving dinner every year and it was so fun trying to figure out what it would be for the whole month leading up to the meal!
Eating way too much and then just relaxing the rest of the day!
Love your table setting, Emily! …as always! I’d say that the tradition I love the most is the actual food we serve at Thanksgiving–it just makes the meal so special, knowing that we’re serving and enjoying the same foods that our family has enjoyed for decades. At the top of the list I’d have to put corn pudding, corn bread and my mom’s cranberry casserole–and one newer tradition–my hubby’s fried turkey! I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season!!
We always make homemade noodles with my grandmother. This year will be the first year we won’t be having Thanksgiving at my grandmothers because of her cancer treatments, but we will certainly continue the tradition of making her noodles and she will hopefully be able to join us at our house. It’s just not the holidays without our traditions and our family to celebrate with!
We have always gone the day after Thanksgiving to cut down our Christmas tree.
Ooh, so pretty!! Thanks for the inspiration. I’m a city girl who was raised in the country, and I don’t miss it much except in the fall! My favorite holiday to spend in the country is Thanksgiving, with the cozy feel and smell of the wood stove burning, and the turkey roasting for hours before my dad carves it. My other favorite tradition is creating a thankful wall or tree with my preschool students. I always think we should do it more often, as I watch gratitude soften their hearts and mine.
Our new favorite Thanksgiving tradition is to celebrate in Fredricksberg in the Texas Hill Country. We go with our extended family. On Friday, we go a winery tour and enjoy a shopping-free Black Friday out in the country, drinking good wine!
We gather as a family and spend time enjoying good conversation sharing our year and its many blessing as well as those things we hope to change in the coming year. Play games and take family walks watch movies an then there are plenty of dishes and cleanup to do while the men sit down and usually fall asleep. There is just too much good food.
Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. I watched as a child, and watched with my girls. This year will be the first Thanksgiving that both of my girls will be away. Youngest daughter, who still lives at home is flying to see her big sister in New Hampshire, it’s her first New England Thanksgiving. I’m happy they will get to be with each other, but will miss them desperately as I watch the parade without them.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is having the whole extended family at my mom and dad’s house for a big traditional turkey dinner with all the family favorites. A roasted turkey, a smoked turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, spinach casserole, candied sweet potatoes, frozen cranberry salad, a delectable relish platter and of course all the various desserts and wine. Then after we’ve all eaten, we enjoy a walk on their beautiful acreage. I’m not sure how much longer this tradition will last as mom and dad are aging and thinking of selling their family home. Until then, I’ll treasure each one. :)
Passing around a basket of corn kernels–only take as many as you wish to recount your year’s blessings!!
Thank you for your beautiful blog! Our Thanksgiving tradition is to team up our guests to help prepare our Thanksgiving feast. I give each team a printed recipe, the ingredients and utensils, etc…needed to mix and plate their recipe. For example, there is Team Rutabaga or Team Salad. It is great fun for a mix of ages and a nice way to integrate new people into our usual mix of family members.
We always go to my grandma’s house for Thanksgiving. She is 97 this year and still loves to prepare the meal (with a little help). She lives on a farm and as a girl I remember her raising her own turkeys. Such great memories of time shared with her and the rest of our family.
I grew up in Washington, but since moving to the desert southwest my favorite thanksgiving tradition is hiking with my family.
Beautiful and tasteful Emily! Growing up, we had the tradition of going with all my dad’s family to a cabin for the four day Thanksgiving weekend. Each family was in charge of one day, planning the meals and activities. It was something we looked forward to all year long, “going to the cabin” and I have such fond memories of that time.
I’d say our favorite tradition is always taking the kids to a special movie on the evening of thanksgiving. It’s something our cousins used to pile in the car to do as kids, and being a military family overseas without family around, we can still get excited by taking our kids to see a new film! It’s always something to look forward to, even as a kid :)
My favorite thanksgiving tradition is roasting that brined turkey (there’s something so satisfying about a well roasted turkey… when I get it right… which is not an annual tradition) followed by a “digestion walk” with our family & guests. Mm…. I can’t wait!
Obviously the food with family is always fun! However, when I was growing up we’d watch Christmas Vacation as a family to get in the spirit of Christmas and then the next day we’d set up all the Christmas decorations!
All the yummy food and being with family are the most important part of Thanksgiving; no presents necessary except the gift of being together.
We have a Thanksgiving family tradition of playing Christmas Carols after we eat!! My husbands family started it when he was growing up! So after our bellies are full we get out all our instruments and start playing!!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in our pj’s and then have a wonderful meal together in the early afternoon.
Our favorite tradition is simply being together as a family. We cook together, eat until we are stuffed, then lounge around and break out the board games!!
My favorite part of Thanksgiving is taking a walk through the woods around our house and bringing along the dogs. The dogs love running back and forth searching out different smells, then returning to us.
Beautiful table…We hold hands all around the kitchen and say what we are thankful for…love that memory. After dinner we play games ……Always fun.
We set up a ‘station’ for the younger kids to do a food craft…..candy turkeys, apple turkeys or turkey bags filled with popcorn & candy corn. It keeps the little ones busy while we finish the last minute touches for dinner.
The stuffing my dad puts in his barbecue’d turkey brings me back to childhood Thanksgivings every year.
My husband and I have worked for country clubs for many years so we always start our Thanksgiving preparations many days in advance. I decorate the house and table, do prep work for side dishes and make homemade bread. Then the day before and the day of Thanksgiving, we guide and help our teams serve our members to make their day special. While our children are home with my sister and her family as they tend to the turkey and start sides in the oven. After the clubs are closed we deliver meals to families that need our love. Then we invite all of our staff that has no where to go and friends that are family and fill our home around 7:00pm after a long day of serving others. I love filling our home to the brim with family and friends, making each other feel loved and special as we have all done all day to others.
Oh Emily it’s just gorgeous what you’ve done here!!! As usual I’m in eye candy heaven. So as far as a favorite family thanksgiving tradition goes, I love when after we have our dinner we each take a turn sharing somethings we are thankful for. It’s so special to hear what even the little kids come up with. I also love when after the dishes are cleared we turn up the Christmas music and do a Christmas themed craft. ?
The same meal every year of my 43 years with my family!
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on God’s goodness even in the midst of everyday storms. I like it because it’s the only holiday that seems not to be “me” centered. It is about family, friends and gathering all around the table. Sharon and love and laughter.
It became a tradition to always have certain foods on the Thanksgiving table– among them being Mom’s Cranberry salad, my Hash brown casserole, and my sister’s Chess pie. Yum! Thanksgiving would not be complete unless we watched the Dallas Cowboys game too!
My favorite thing is everyone hanging out together and I love setting a pretty table!
Emily, where is the lovely white marble lazy Susan from? Ryan has great taste!
I love the time with family in the kitchen preparing for the meal – cooking together, laughing, catching up, quoting movie lines, sharing stories. By the time we get the meal on the table, I’m again reminded of just how thankful I am for the family I’ve been given.
We celebrate thanksgiving by working together to prepare family recipes and gathering around a huge table with our family of nine and our extended family. After giving our thanks and eating the delicious dinner, we play family board games and sometimes venture outside to play some family flag football. The best part of the day is being together.
Relishing in the quiet gratitude that is Thanksgiving. It is truly my favorite holiday, a long weekend filled with friends, family and food. No commercialism, no stress, just the comforts of home. As always, love to feast my eyes on your lovely table. You always manage to out do yourself and provide fresh ideas!
Table decorating is one of my favorite holiday traditions followed closely by artistic edible creations! I love the beautiful table setting you created! So pretty!
We have a big counter with bar stools where we eat our meals, play, do homework, just about everything since it seems like we are busier with the kids getting older, so, oddly enough, eating at our actual table is a holiday tradition! LOL. Thanks for the giveaway and sharing your lovely table!
This will be the first year of what will hopefully become a new tradition:) we recently moved closer to my husband’s family and our new street name is Gobbler Rd. So it just seems fitting that we host…so, after 11+ years of marriage I am hosting the “big” family Thanksgiving!!!! Here goes nothing!!! ? Oh my!!
The wonderful food & fellowship!
My favorite family tradition is that we skip the turkey and cook a huge 10 pound roast. We randomly decided to switch it up over 10 years ago and have never looked back. Everyone loves it and the leftovers are wonderful.
So beautiful! Our traditions are brining the turkey and my daughter now loves to make hand lettered place cards. We are love to have extra people for dinner who don’t have family here in town.
The one tradition I love is for the grandchildren and great-grands to back up against the kitchen door frame to be measured. They are delighted to see how much they have grown since their last visit and can’t believe how little they used to be.
Lovely! My favorite tradition is getting together with extended family and everyone playing games after the meal.
Favorite tradition is being together – we always go around the table and say 1 thing we’re Thankful. It’s nice to take a minute a remember all we have to be thankful especially as we head in to the busy-ness of the holiday season.
Probably my favorite holiday-my Mom just recently passed, so I inherited all of her special China to use this year as my own and it will make the day a bit happier to remember her with.
I enjoy watching the Thanksgiving Day parade with my kids as I cook. We always get together with family and enjoy the day…playing games, watching football, leftovers for supper. Ours is not a fancy, dress up event. Just a casual and relaxed get together. The day after Thanksgiving we usually drive to a Christmas tree farm and find the perfect tree to bring home and decorate.
I just love Thanksgiving! My favorite traditions are setting the beautiful table and family eating all together. We always pore over the black Friday ads but never go out shopping anyway!
Mom mom’s fresh pumpkin pies and always one pecan pie. No other pumpkin or pecan pies can ever taste quite *right* to me, no matter how delicious, because my mom’s is the flavor that evokes all the nostalgia.
Your table is beautiful, Emily!
My family enjoys sharing one thing we are thankful for, and we usually cut down a Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving!
My favorite tradition is the same menu every year. I am not allowed to change it…lots of good memories. Also the holiday with no gift giving, just full of gratitude.
For the past 6 years we have had everyone who came to the Thanksgiving dinner write what they are thankful for on cards. Each year I would pick a new design and would ‘make’ everyone fill one out. Basically we told everyone that they could not ‘partake of the turkey’ until they filled out their card. There were always those that didn’t want to do it – my dad. At Christmas, I would bind the cards together and give them to my mom.
This year we lost my dad to Alzheimer’s. I didn’t realize how much those cards would mean to us. He never wrote much but on those cards we have my Dad’s handwriting and the simple things that he was thankful for.
We celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with family gathered around the kitchen, spilling out into the front yard and the men tucked around back frying the turkey in a vat of oil. Ever the worrywart, I am waiting for the soccer ball to go bouncing into the 200 degree oil and deep fry the kids. So far, so good.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is frying the turkey. It was started in our family by my sweet uncle who is now in heaven. Every time my husband gets ready and puts on his denim shirt, I think of uncle Lloyd and his sweet laughter . Thanksgiving is full of family gathering memories for me! I am truly grateful.
Such a pretty tablescape! I like to keep things simple too. Our home used to be where family would gather. Now our adult children and their spouses are starting their own traditions with their small children, so we go to their beautiful homes!
Canned cranberry sauce, football, and a good nap!
Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful Thanksgiving table with us! I ‘thought’ I already had my plan for our Thanksgiving table this year. Thanks to you, I now have some wonderful new ideas. I love the greenery down the middle of the table. Thanks again for giving me new ideas to incorporate into our Thanksgiving traditions! :)
German Cole slaw {w/bacon}! My step-dads specialty!
We usually spend it with our daughters and 8 grandchildren. If we aren’t with them my husband and I make enchiladas and an apple pie and watch football.
Thanksgiving is my favorite!! A favorite tradition is the secret recipe cheese stuffed rolls we make – we only have them on Thanksgiving and Christmas, so everyone looks forward to them!
Every year since my husband and I have been married I’ve always make a turkey for us for Thanksgiving. Even if we celebrate the holiday somewhere else I always make one for us to celebrate how thankful I am for our little family. It’s my favorite tradition and really a celebration of love as well.
We have all the traditional foods and enjoy a craft/project after the huge meal.
I love being with family and making my mom’s French cookies.
I enjoy getting together with family on Thanksgiving but the Thanksgiving sandwich (all the leftovers) at the end of the day with my husband is something I look forward to all year long!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is when we all sit down to dinner my grandpa gets up and does a recap of the year, highlighting any family milestones and then we have a prayer of Thanksgiving that everyone joins in on. It is beausitdul to hear the 5 year old give thanks next to the 70 year old.
Our tradition is dinner at my inlaws, then christmas movies and hot cocoa on the coach when we get home. Silly, but sweet. We all look forward to sitting in our pajamas and getting our heads ready for the next big holiday.
I love spending all day in the kitchen cooking with my mom!
What a beautiful table! I just tried your flower arranging trick with some hydrangeas from my yard and it worked great!
For Thanksgiving, we go around the table and share about our year and what we are thankful for. My family isn’t local so this is a special chance to catch up in a meaningful way!
I love planning the menu and cooking. Love to spoil my family with yummy food full of love.
Playing rook with the family after a great meal!
THE BEST Celebration ! All about the grateful, and none of the ‘gimmeees’. Pier One is so smart to have you represent them with your impeccable STYLE !!!
Definitely dressing/stuffing! We should eat it all year.
My favorite tradition is simply just being with family. It has been so fun to see my own kids carry on the love for that tradition with their cousins.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition since moving to NYC is watching the Macy’s parade (either in person or on TV), then going over to a friend’s house in Brooklyn for a low-stress Friendsgiving.
Simple and beautiful!! Love it!!
One of my favorite Thanskgiving traditions is going around the table and everyone saying one thing they are thankful for without duplicates. Such a great way to remember all the blessings we enjoy.
Eating homemade cinnamon rolls while watching the Macy’s parade!
My family runs the turkey trot Thanksgiving morning every year! It is such a fun tradition to get moving before eating ourselves into a coma!
I love making a Thankfulness tree where we write something each day we’re thankful for and hang it from the branches. Which reminds me … it’s November and I need to get on this already! :/
My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is just being with family! Having everyone home and hanging out together, there is nothing better than that!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is drinking coffee while relaxing in the living room after the dishes are done!
Beautiful table settings. Favorite tradition, great Food, even better, time with family!!!
My favorite tradition is the relish tray. Adults enjoy everything and the children put the black olives on their fingers. I did the same thing as a child.
I just love that my family is all together. We live all over the east coast and don’t see each other often at all. We have to split Christmas up between all of our in laws, so my siblings and I make sure we do Thanksgiving together every year. It really means so much that everyone travels far to be together and keep the traditions going.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is eating my mom’s delicious green bean casserole. My family didn’t realize this was a tradition until my mom didn’t make it one year and everyone really missed it! Now my mom makes sure to make it every Thanksgiving.
My big brother Willie was in the Green Berets and was gone for many Thanksgivings. If we got caught sneaking a taste of the turkey/stuffing/skin as it rested before dinner, we avoided being yelled at by claiming “but that taste was for Willie!” Even in the ensuing years, with Willie right there in the room, we still say “this is for Willie” when we sneak a bite before dinner!!
Having no-traditional foods. One year it was a Mexican buffet, and I think this year we will have Italian, with lasagna as the main course.
I LOVE thanksgiving. My favorite traditions are centered around food and family and spending the day together. But the best is when we write down the things we are thankful for and read the ones from last year.
The table setting is beautiful.
Lovw this holiday! My daughter “comes home” from NYC and we’re all together again. That’s why I’m thankful. I usually visit my mom the day after – or the Saturday – whichever she prefers. She’s a busy woman!
This all looks so lovely! Thank you for sharing. I’m totally in love with those little salt and pepper cellars too!
Since my birthday is right after Thanksgiving (just one day too late to ever land on the fourth Thursday of November!), my birthday celebration usually gets lumped in since the entire family is around already. I never minded though as I was never a big cake fan, so I would get to blow out the candles in a pumpkin pie – my favorite!
Our tradition is simply, Family! Wherever we decide to celebrate, it’s always with family.
My favorite tradition is being with extended family for Thanksgiving day. On my side of the family, we give each person 5 kernels of popcorn (unpopped…to remind us of the Pilgrims) and pass a pretty bowl around the table. As each person says one thing that they are thankful for, they drop one kernel into the bowl. Then we go around the table until all of the kernels are in the bowl. (This helps keep the younger kids engaged. :) ) Thanks for the beautiful inspiration!
I always host Thanksgiving at my house and my favorite part is spending the day before prepping with my mom!
I love the Warm feeling of being together with family and making new memories! Thanksgiving is indeed.. a special.. Holy-Day to slow down and remember where our blessings come from!
We have honestly never really had any traditions in my family growing up. But my husband and I have made thanksgiving dinner ourselves (including a whole turkey) every year since we’ve been married even if we didn’t host (for the leftovers- haha). This includes the year I had my son (born the day before thanksgiving) so my husband left the hospital on thanksgiving to cook the entire meal by himself just so we would have leftovers when we got home!!!
Pier 1 is one of my favorites! I also like your choices!
I love the sleeping in on Thanksgiving morning and taking it slow with a coffee and really taking in the beauty of autumn: the bare branches, leaf piles, shadows on a cloudy day and looking for beauty in the little moments.
Your tablescape is stunning! Our family changes our Thanksgiving location each year, but what remains constant is the pineapple casserole, broccoli rice casserole, sweet potato casserole….all the casseroles! It’s what I love the most!
Hi Emily, what a gorgeous table setting. Thanks for sharing it with us.
A house FULL of family and the foods they bring! Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without a basket of Aunt Eileen’s homemade rolls, a beautiful cranberry port jello salad with cream cheese sour cream topping, and steamed date nut pudding in grandmas mold with bourbon sauce! Things we only eat once a year but always warm our hearts and tummies. AND this year HAND WRITTEN place cards I learned how to make in this AMAZING ONLINE CLASS I AM TAKING FROM EMILY :)
I just love being with my entire family! As we’re all getting older, it happens less and less. It’s always such a sweet time together. Within the last few years I’ve begun making homemade bread each Thanksgiving. Delicious tradition. :)
Love it! One of my favorite thanksgiving traditions is making an old family recipe: bacon cabbage. My mom and I look forward to it more than the whole feast! Filling our home with family and friends are the best part of all.
My favorite tradition started when my husband and I got married and we had a house to host a family meal: our house is neutral territory for my divorced parents. For all holidays, they come over with my brothers and we are the sweetest little functioning dysfunctional family. My dad is a professional chef and my mom is an awesome cook. They cook our meals together and give each other compliments and we laugh at how ironic the whole scene is. We love it!
Since my children have learned to write, another tradition is coming up with over the top place settings. They write the names and we craft something cute together. My brothers, who usually scoff at any holiday decor, now oh and ah over how cute their niece and nephews handy work is.
I love so many parts about thanksgiving, but one of my favorite traditions is making my grandma’s shiny rolls. I only make them once a year and they are relish – definitely a family favorite.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is that I’m now the “official” turkey de-boner :) Which means that while everyone else is washing dishes and cleaning up, I get to sit there and eat-I-mean-debone the turkey and find all the delicious little surprises on the bottom of the plate :) Yum!
As much of the extended family as possible sleeps at my aunt and uncles house and he buys fresh New York style bagels for everyone in the morning :)
Since I don’t have any family close by, our Thanksgiving varies yearly. We go to different friends and it’s been great seeing how their traditions carry out.
A favorite tradition is having the kids add leaves to our Thankful tree up until Thanksgiving and then sharing our tree with our family and inviting them to add to our tree too!
Just talking today with a coworker about creating a beautiful Thanksgiving table and try some new recipes. Love the pears and greenery!!
Cooking! I love to cook for my family and spend the day with them….
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is the focus on giving thanks for all we have.
My favorite thanksgiving is when my son came back from his tour in Iraq.We all were together again.We all thank the LORD for his protection.
Thank you for sharing this Thanksgiving post. We spend Thanksgiving with family & friends. We have been celebrating the holidays with friends for 25 years. We are both from different states and we came together 25 years ago after we gave our friends a hot air balloon ride! They are family now!
Thanksgiving is most certainly my favorite holiday – family and food – my two most favorite things! I work at a College and always extend an invitation to students who are too far from home. What a delight it is to have them join my family — always a warm fuzzy to share hospitality and learn their favorites/traditions.
I forgot to add that I LOVE this table setting!!! My husband was sitting next to me, taking it all in too! We are working on our own fixer-upper that we bought in August– so excited to see what you’re doing there!
This is beautiful. My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is spending the entire day from a little before dawn and well after dusk with my family. The women of the family tend to congregate in the kitchen chasing our small flocks of children around and the men gather in the living room, family room, or outside depending on the Ohio weather. From the meal onward we mingle together, cozying up on the couches and floor of parents living room and play games, tell stories, and absorb ourselves in the family love.
My favorite part of Thanksgiving is simply being with family and spending a fun, relaxed day together.
What a gorgeous tablescape! My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is baking pies with my husband the night before❤️ My parents have always done the same thing, and we’ve carried on the tradition–it’s always nice to have that quiet time the evening before the big day!
I love that is simple yet very colorful with the green under centerpiece. Felt warm and cozy plus food was healthy. Loved it.
Wow, just beautiful!! Your photography is amazing Emily! My family has moved states away from our extended family so we are learning about new traditions and trying to discover some of our own (still working on that!). I love reading everyone’s traditions posted here!!
We’re finally going to be in our own home and close to family this year so I’m excited to start some traditions! We prefer ham for dinner and gathering as much family as possible. And we either get our Christmas tree that afternoon or the next day.
The best part of Thanksgiving is gathering with our family, giving thanks for all our blessings!
My favorite Thanksgiving Tradition is everyone gathers around the table and we go one by one and share what we are thankful for this past year.
This is my favorite holiday and it’s also my birthday month! I try to start the day watching the Macy’s Day Parade because I’m such a huge Snoopy fan and I have to see that float! Then my children expect that I will spend at least 2 days cooking all of their favorites so that we have a huge Thanksgiving feast and leftovers for the rest of the weekend! I love to see extended family too when we can (they are all out of town). We always donate food to our Soup Kitchen and to our church which has a meal for people without a place to go or even a home. We break out the Christmas decorations and start watching Holiday movies the next day! But most of all, I always make sure to take it all in and be very thankful for all the blessings in my life and think about how I can be a blessing to others in the coming year.
Favorite Thanksgiving tradition – trying to keep the inlaws from fighting.
ahhh its so beautiful! I so want to have an Emily Thanksgiving table and meal. I hope I can pull it off. Gives me “ogeda” just thinking about all I have to do! Going to keep reminding myself its all about family and being together sharing the love and being thankful to be together. Enjoy your holiday.
celebrating with my family at my grandmother’s house….she will be 90 in 2 weeks!
Our tradition starts November 1 and ends on Thanksgiving. We gather sticks from the yard, plop them in a vase, and print your holiday gift tags to make a thankful tree. Every day until Thanksgiving, we each write/draw one thing we’re thankful for on a card and hang it on our tree.
Super pretty and fun! Thanks!
I LOVE the natural pieces incorporated into the setting! I CAN DO THAT! yea! What I love on Thanksgiving day is the quiet morning with the family, then it builds into the anticipation of guests and food, followed by a mean game of Left, Center, Right (dice game).
My favorite thing is honestly just being with my family! :)
Thanksgiving is my favorite week! With school now giving a week holiday, it creates a relaxing family atompsohere. I love this holiday since it’s not as heroic as Christmas. It really is all about hanging out with family and fellowship. I absolutely love baking a turkey from soaking overnight to basting it on thanskiving day. There really isn’t anything I don’t enjoy about this day. I so grateful for what each year brings whether small or large gatherings since they have varied. I love the table, you have inspired me!
We have a “Thankful” tree–I put a pretty, bare (leafless) tree branch in a large square vase filled with river rocks on a side table in the den. Beside the tree is a stack of cards and ribbon. We ask guests to write what they’re thankful for on a card or three and hang them up on the tree. We read them all later in the day. It’s a great way for each family member or guest to count his blessings!
While we are finishing cooking the Thanksgiving day meal, we will set out a relish tray with all sorts of olives and pickles. We are big on relishes in our family and will give olive jars in our stockings. I love to finish bringing items to set the table and see the dwindling relish tray that member of our family have swiped after becoming hungry smelling the delicious food cooking.
At thanksgiving dinner, my family (2 parents, 6 kids and extended family) go around and everyone says something they are thankful for before we pray and eat. Now that we all have kids of our own, it takes a little longer when we’re all together:)
My favorite tradition is the cliche, going around the table and saying what you are grateful for… kids love to do it!
So simple and pretty! My favorite tradition is the tablecloth my mother-in-law puts on the kid’s table. Each year we all write or draw something we are thankful for on it. It’s so sweet to look back and read every year.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is just being with family that we don’t see often. I try to do as much prep as possible in the days before so that Thanksgiving is relaxed and I actually get to participate in the festivities. We love to play board games – we’re ruthless at Trivial Pursuit – and take a walk outside. We serve dinner at dinnertime (between 6 and 7) so the day is filled with snacking (a charcuterie board with small rolls to make mini sandwiches; a veggie and dip tray; and chips to round it out) to maintain the relaxed vibe.
It is truly one of my favorite holidays, since it’s centered around being together and being thankful for each other.
Every year in our town of Bozeman, MT there is a run on Thanksgiving morning called Huffing for Stuffing. Last year almost 5000 people ran in the 5k and 10k and raised over $45,000 for the food bank and 40,000 lbs of food. No matter the temperature… it’s even been around zero outside on some years, the thousands come run anyway and the race goes right by our house. The tradition has been going on for many years now and I love how many people give in our community. It’s over in time for Thanksgiving dinner after the race and everyone can feel good about going home and stuffing themselves with good food.
Beautiful! I hope to use that gorgeous olive, cheese and fig plate, too.
My husband and I take a “thanksgiving walk”. We leave the kids playing with the cousins and grandparents and we sneak away and talk about what we are thankful for from the year.
Hayride at the farm and lots of kids playing!
What a fun giveaway! A fun favorite tradition of ours is bringing out a book about thanksgiving (we use ‘thanksgiving: a time to remember’) and reading it with the kids over chocolate chip cookies and candlelight. It’s reminded us of why we celebrate the season and the joy therein.
My favorite tradition is my mom’s entire extended family going to Beaver’s Bend in Oklahoma to stay in cabins and spend time together. We go on walks, play games, do puzzles, and of course eat a lot!
Gathering in a circle for prayer, spending the entire day with people we love, punpkin pie!
Pumpkin cheesecake- always a favorite!
Your table is lovely- thank you for sharing !
Having a pretty traditional meal, usually with my side of the family. Don’t forget the homemade cranberry sauce! Also, usually having a relaxed morning, maybe watching some of the parade on TV while cooking. My daughter (11) is becoming a great baker, and she makes the pies with my aunt earlier in the week.
Love the natural table runner – genius and oh so pretty! I love love love sharing the kitchen with my sisters and mom to cook and bake the thanksgiving feast. Even years later with families of our own, we still get together to cook and eat together. Such wonderful family memories!
Being together with family, delicious food, and sharing what we are most thankful for that year. I love to use all of my china, sterling silverware from a great aunt, and crystal! It makes it an even more special meal!
Love your table – simple, elegant, just beautiful!
Favorite tradition is keeping the meal simple and enjoying visiting with family! A walk after lunch also helps!
I love Thanksgiving, it just feels less rushed and crazy than Christmas. A warm fire, hot apple cider and all the smells – those are my favorites. Thanks for all the great ideas today – even if I don’t win the giveaway, I think I’ll stop by and pick up some of these things from Pier1.
My mom always makes two cranberry sauces–one with Grand Marnier and one without. I love having both the fancy and the plain!
Thanksgiving morning Dad would always go out and pick up a newspaper and, as a family, we’d go through the Black Friday ads and circle what we wanted. When we were all done we’d establish a game plan for which stores to hit and in what order.
We always run a Turkey Trot together (eat more PIE!) and then watch the Macy’s parade.
Setting a beautiful table and eating food with family and friends are my favorite traditions.
The past few years, we’ve gone to my parents’ house in the mountains. It’s been a sweet time to get away as a family and to have a little time away, hiking and being together!
I love waking up on Thanksgiving morning and watching the parade with family. Thanksgiving is also my favorite holiday – it is truly the only day of the year where the only plans are to spend time as a family and eat!
Beautiful work and great giveaway! Since I was a kid I was in charge of making little oreo and candy corn turkeys for each place setting. I loved it. Also, I really love pie for breakfast on Friday.
Writing what we are thankful for on paper leaves all month long.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is attending the Lighting Ceremony at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, MO. The perfect way to launch the holiday season!
One of our favorite family traditions is creating a “Thankful Tree” using the tags you designed years ago, Emily! The tags, looped with raffia, are filled out by each family member prior to dinner. Then, as we sit down to eat, we each share what we have written on our tag. We hang them on a few bare branches plucked from the yard, and, viola, beauty and gratitude are our centerpiece!
Thank you for being a special part of our Thanksgiving tradition!
Making and eating dinner. Were there no pesticides used in arranging your table?
Taking a nap!
My favorite tradition is what we do the day afterwards – the next morning, while the family is all still gathered in the same place, we go pick out a Christmas tree together at our local nursery. Then we bring it home to decorate it while playing Christmas songs, eating donuts and drinking mimosas!
Our family has grown to huge that we schedule the fellowship room at church and have a combined Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration. Each family is responsible for decorating their table, and some are quite creative! Many years we have a raffle item and donate the proceeds to a needy organization or the local food pantry.
we always go away to our family’s cabin where I cook and the kids can stay in their pjs all day as they do a massive puzzle and watch the parade, the yearly christmas movies and the football game. No fuss family time.
We always have Thanksgiving game night. So when everyone is stuffed and sleepy, what better way to wake up than by playing some games and having sweet family time.
I love to host since it’s my favorite holiday of the year. We all pitch in on Thanksgiving but everyone’s favorite tradition is that our Mom (Mamita) makes the turkey, but even more importantly, she stuffs it with Mofongo…a classic Puerto Rican dish of mashed plantains seasoned with savory Sofrito and for some added flavor, Italian sausage. YUM!
Family game night followed by a movie with all the cousins. Now that my grandparents have past, many of us have kids of our own, and many miles separate us all – this hasn’t happened in far too long. But I dream of the day when we can reunite all eight cousins and their spouses and kids!
My favorite tradition is eating a lot of delicious food with my family and then going for a walk to savor the day!
Love this!
I love that Thanksgiving is a time for just that – giving thanks. As a family we gather around the table, give thanks for another year together and for all the ways God has provided for us. A new, fun tradition for the kids has become pumpkin bowling. They take the leftover pumpkins and gourds from the season and roll them down Mimi and Grandpa’s hill. A decidant meal followed by fun and laughter is so very satisfying.
My extended family doesn’t always share the main meal together but…we all try to meet at the beach around 10am to toast the day with a lite snack and Bloody Mary’s.
We walk, laugh, reminisce about our year and what we are thankful for.
I love the table setting and adding greenery always takes a table to a new level❤️
such a gorgeous table!! I love seeing it all come together, and makes me so excited for thanksgiving! I love setting the table, and can’t wait to incorporate some heirloom linens I just inherited with my more modern pieces.
What a beautiful table setting! My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is asking my children what they are thankful for, spending time with my family and relatives and watching football.
We celebrate by going around the table and sharing what God has done for us over the past year. We express our thankfulness and we get caught up with each other’s highs and lows.
You always have such beautiful ideas! Fall and Thanksgiving are a favorite of mine as well! Our tradition is just to focus on spending time together with family and friends. In our busy lives, it is important that we take time to focus on that which we are grateful for, and just take time to really be present.
My favorite things are our church’s annual Thanksgiving Praise and Pie night…gathering with family and making a grateful tree every year.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is our family Turkey Bowl. I am one of 6 siblings. Our late dad started the tradition nearly 30 years ago where we meet at a local school football field for flag football. We have since continued this with our children. This allows for our mom and a couple of helpers to get the Thanksgiving dinner done without everyone sampling the fixings nearly finishing certain dishes off claiming to take one for the team. We then gather around the table to give thanks and break bread together.
Llike the “Friends” episode perhaps, Mary? How much fun! Cheers, Ardith
The correct word would be “Like.”
A thankful tree: branches on which the kids tie note cards listing things for which they are thankful.
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorites. I love the time spent with our family and enjoying all of the delicious food!
Each year we make a paper tree out of brown wrapping paper and then cut out leaf shapes out of construction paper. Each day we write what we are thankful for on a leaf and tape it up. By the time Thanksgiving day arrives we have a very full tree. :)
Celebrating with family! We begin the day with a long walk and finish with our traditional dinner and sharing of things we are thankful for. An amazing way to connect!
Just being together as a family building relationships and loving each other; along with traditional foods and learning new things about each other is my favorite thing in the whole holiday feast.
Best family tradition ever growing up: sharing one thing we are grateful for…helps us remember the importance of the day and of eachother!
My favorite tradition is getting together with family, everyone brining a different dish to share. ?
We live at a distance from our extended family so we travel “home” for Thanksgiving. Our tradition is lots of warm feel-good foods and amazing desserts. My husband usually makes the mashed potatoes and there are always large dishes of dill pickles on the table which disappear long before the turkey ever arrives. Good family discussions, laughter and lots of wine. We do love Thanksgiving!
Coming up a with a few unique dishes to make always seems to be a hit in our family. So pretty.
Dear Emily, The Table Setting is Simply Beautiful, I too, Love thanksgiving, and hosting the gathering. Bringing the outdoor in is a wonderful way to enjoy the Fall. If you live in a warmer climate, you can also bring the indoors outdoors, and have your Thanksgiving enjoyed outdoors. When we lived in California we did that many times.
After dinner activities! Games, movies, walks, football, and making turkey stock. Later, sitting on the counter eating turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce :)
After dinner activities! Games, movies, walks, football, and making turkey stock. Later, sitting on the counter eating turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce :)
This is beautiful! Thank you!
I love thanksgiving because it is the only holiday I host in my own house. With family out of town, all the other holidays we spend traveling but with Thanksgiving we can to enjoy our own home.
we start decorating for christmas!
Last year was my first year hosting Thanksgiving. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope its a tradition that continues.
My favorite “tradition” is spending the day being incredibly lazy! We are usually so busy, and we live far away from family. So with no obligations, we spend the entire day indulging – books, quiet, pajamas, and yummy food!
Yummy fun breakfast rolls getting gobbled up while we watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and turkey is cooking !!
Going around the table and sharing what we are thankful for this year.
We must have pumpkin pie!
We always celebrate Thanksgiving at my in-laws. The men in the family hunt for the morning and come in for our huge Thanksgiving lunch. One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is the green bean casserole. We spend the afternoon laughing, looking at holiday ads and eating pumpkin pie. I love being with family for the holidays.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!! A few years ago, we started doing The Thankful Tree you recommended… it’s now our favorite tradition. I found our tags from last year a few days ago and loved looking over the things we listed last year.
Your table looks so elegant yet simple. You are inspiring me to try something new. I just hope I can pull it off. It always looks better in my head.
We empty the blessings jar on our table and rehearse all the answers to prayer from the year.
My grandmother used to take all of us grandchildren out after Thanksgiving dinner to collect pine branches and then would help us to make our own Christmas wreaths. It always felt like the best way to welcome the beginning of the Christmas season!
My family and I have always celebrated with a huge dinner at my grandparents’ house, where all 50+ of us would gather from all over the country. As a kindergartner, I took it upon myself to require that everyone say one thing that they were especially thankful for. Luckily, this tradition has stuck 30 years later, and it’s still one of my favorite traditions that we have!
I love getting together with my mom and sisters for pie day a day or two before Thanksgiving. We are often headed to different places on Thanksgiving itself, so it’s nice to be together, cooking. Some years we turn out 12 pies, other years it’s more like 25!
Probably the cooking…all day long! One other tradition is to add a pie crust cut turkey shape to the middle of our pumpkin pie. We did this every year growing up and I still use the same cookie cutter to cut out my turkey shape each Thanksgiving. Little traditions that make the holiday extra warm and cozy! ??
Favorite Thanksgiving tradition……doing around the table to each person saying what you are thankful for.
My fave Turkey Day tradition is likely cheering for the men of my husband’s family as they play a rowdy, muddy game of tackle football after the big meal. It’s such a spectacle & wonderful legacy going back decades that it’s fun even from the safety of the sidelines.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is breaking out the board games after dinner. We’re all stuffed and exhausted, and it gives us a chance to lovingly yell at each other instead of yelling at the game on TV!
Being with family is most important on our Thanksgiving Day – frying a turkey and having all the trimmings – and, of course, football!!!
Emily- this table is beautiful! Since having kids and rushing to 4 family gatherings during the long weekend, I have come to dread Thanksgiving. Ironically, as a child I loved Thanksgiving because of seeing all my family. The table you created is a calm setting- love all the neutrals.
Eating pie and sampling all the desserts a few times.
Lion’s football and a traditional family dinner.
Our friends have a beautiful dude ranch that is closed in the winter so we gather in their big log lodge with a roaring fire in the fireplace and have a cozy and fun Thanksgiving.
Our tradition at Thanks Giving (emphasis added) has always been Family, Friends and Food. We are so blessed! Thank you for your wonderful blog.
Stunning table! I will definitely borrow some of your ideas for this year’s table. One of my favorite traditions is our gratitude jar. We start a new one every year on New Years Day. Throughout the year we write out the little things (or big things) that we are thankful for. On Thanksgiving we pass the jar around the table and everyone gets to read one or two. Oftentimes people add their own statement of gratitude as well. On New Years Eve we have a fire and reread and then burn the little notes (except for the super special ones) to send our gratitudes out to the universe. Keeping the jar year round reminds to be intentionally grateful all year.
Getting together with over 60 people at our church for Thanksgiving meal.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is just being with all of our loved ones and the conversations we have over sharing a meal together–such a blessing!
My mother-in-law makes Korean food for Korean Thanksgiving which is nice since we have traditional thanksgiving dishes on my side that same day.
I love the conversations with Family on Thanksgiving. I always get to see family members and friends of the family that I haven’t seen for a while and it is so much fun to catch up. Then, over the Thanksgiving weekend, we (my husband and kids) go cut down a Christmas tree at the local tree farm. We love to search for the perfect Charlie Brown Christmas tree!
We have a “Thankful Tree” and everyone fills out a piece of paper for what they are thankful for and uses a clip to attach it to the tree. That is an easy way to have the Christmas Tree in place and ready for Christmas decorations the next day
My favorite Thanksgiving Day tradition is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and reflecting with family what we are thanful for.
Appetizers! Lots of Appetizers! They are my favorite Thanksgiving tradition!
This is our first Thanksgiving with our three boys officially adopted, so we are eager to start some new traditions with them! Love all the ideas shared here!
For many years, Mom and Dad hosted Thanksgiving at their house. After Dad passed away in August 2013, our grief was still so fresh–we wanted to be together for Thanksgiving but we didn’t want the traditional gathering at Mom’s house because we missed Dad so much. So we invited her and the rest of our family to our house for Thanksgiving. Years later, we continue to host the Thanksgiving meal. It fills me with joy and gratitude to have my loved ones in our home at our table.
Your Thanksgiving table is beautiful. I love the organic, simple, non-fussy but still a little fancy feel of it. You’ve given me many great ideas to add a special touch to our family’s table this year.
Thanks so much!
We love to fry a turkey and play football outside if it’s a sunshine-y thanksgiving!
Cooking with my family is my favorite part of Thanksgiving.
I love the idea of using traditional serving pieces in different ways. It makes you look at what you have in a new light – which is great if you’re trying to save money- especially around the holidays! Even going to thrift stores will give your minds eye a new way to see things. I’m excited to look around and see what I can use to change things up to give it a fresh yet “used” look.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is definitely eating our family’s sauerkraut and beef. Sounds funny (and smells even worse), but I LOVE it! The moment I walk into my aunt’s house on Thanksgiving day, the smell immediately puts a smile on my face and makes me feel right at home! A game of friendly football ends the day! Oh my stars, I can’t wait!!!
Spending time in our home town. It looks very different these days since we stay at a motel and eat in a restaurant, but we’re together and that’s what’s important.
Our favorite tradition is incorporating some nontraditional elements! My family is Brazilian, so we usually have some rice and Brazilian desserts alongside the traditional turkey and stuffing. :)
Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade!
Beautiful table! I love the organic simplicity of it all! Our family tradition actually only started a few years ago. Instead of just me in the kitchen all day, every kid ( we have 4- 2 from my first marriage and 2 from his first marriage) has a dish they are in charge of and help create. We start talking about it right around Halloween and plan our menu and each kid has a turn in the kitchen preparing their special dish- with assistance of course! It is so fun having company in the kitchen and watching these budding chefs work, and the kids are so proud of Thanksgiving dinner now, it’s just one more thing to be grateful for!
We have a huge family celebration. The food is wonderful, and the company even better! I love it all!
Love this table! So beautiful! One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is finding the perfect napkins for the day with my five year old daughter. It’s a fun errand we run together & she has very specific ideas. One year, they were pink and purple ?
Thanksgiving would not be complete without my Grandma’s stuffing. It is ridiculously good and we all go gaga over it. There’s literally over 50 in my family who all get together for Thanksgiving, so we keep it pretty casual and everyone brings a Thanksgiving dish or two. We eat outside (we’re in CA)…and you better load up on GG’s stuffing fast!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is that we get together with both sides of our family every year. We are so blessed to be near to each our parents.
It’s so fun to do a Turkey Trot in the morning! Saying our family grace together as we are all seated at the table is so very special to me. Thanks for the giveaway!
My uncle (who has since passed away) always put Andes Mints on the table after our Thanksgiving dinner. Every time I eat one of those mints it reminds me of Thanksgiving with my family. We have kept up the tradition and remember how much he enjoyed the mints after dinner too!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is looking through the sale ads with my aunts and cousins.
I love doing a Turkey Trot run first thing in the morning with family! Saying our family grace together around the table is also so special. Thanks for the giveaway!
I love the table – beautiful and simple. Perfect for a family holiday that focuses on being together and enjoying one another’s company.
Hosting Thanksgiving for friends who aren’t able to spend it with their families.
Thank you for this giveaway and for sharing your beautiful pictures! Thanksgiving is the holiday I look forward to most. My favorite tradition is to try a ‘new’ dish in the midst of the old standbys.
Classic pumpkin pie!
Before we begin our Thanksgiving dinner we go around the table and each one expresses something they are thankful for. This has become an enjoyable and much-loved tradition for our family. Thanks for the giveaway!
I work at a non profit for foster care children and every thanksgiving morning all the kids from the group home and the houseparents, volunteers and donors get together in the morning for flag football, donuts and coffee! some of the girls always put on a halftime show too. It’s so much fun.
A favorite that I hope becomes a tradition is our Friendsgiving dinner party. We are part of a dinner club and we all agreed we’d love to have one Thanksgiving where we could pull out all the stops and make gourmet, perhaps untraditional dishes. We’re starting this year and hopefully this will be the first of many!
That’s beautiful! Our tradition is cooking with the parade on tv in the background, aprons over our pjs. And a table decorated with Florida oranges from the backyard tree.
We enjoy the morning flag football game at Woodland Park — wonderful tradition with families that we’ve known from the kids’ various sports teams. Thanks!
Making “bird feeders” with pine cones, peanut butter, and bird seed!
Emily! This is gorgeous. I love the edible centerpiece you created.
Our favorite Thanksgiving tradition actually gets us off to the start of celebrating Christmas. After the meal and some relaxation we put up our white vintage Christmas tree adorned with ornaments passed down from my sweet 98 year old MIL.
Our thanksgiving tradition is dinner with the family and all of the pies. We like to start with the “healthy” ones, aka the fruit pies. Once we have had those we can move on to the dessert pies. Chocolate Cream, coconut cream, and pumpkin. I think that tradition started because my MIL made the fruit pies and didn’t want all the kids eating ONLY the chocolate pies (making sure they had HERS first). Other than that, just board games. Naps. Dishes.
We usually host my husband’s family and have a wonderful day filled with traditional food, laughter and thanksgiving and then finish the day off with a bonfire. Happy Thanksgiving!
“Turkey Bowl” family-friendly flag football game with family and friends every Thanksgiving morning followed by an afternoon/evening of delicious food, grateful conversations with those we love and the occasional heating pad or ice wraps to ease the sore muscles for the 40-somethings who acted like 20-somethings earlier that morning..
It’s my favorite time of year!
Gathering is my favorite part of Thanksgiving. It’s a time when family and friends come together to celebrate each other, and to celebrate God’s faithfulness for another year.
We used to dress up as Pilgrims and Indians when we were young.. At Christmas we sign a white tablecloth and Mom paints it with fabric paint later. I think maybe I should start a Thanksgiving one and have everyone write what they are thankful for too. I love just relaxing with family and the easy slow pace of the day
Eating breakfast in our pjs while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
Simply gorgeous! I’m going to have help with food this year so im going to focus on bringing the festive this year. Thanks for the inspiriation.
Sharing what we are grateful for around the table!
Our family goes for a walk through the neighborhood and then plays board games over dessert. It gets very competitive and everyone gets involved!
Our first daughter was born on Thanksgiving Day- so I love remembering that most special Thanksgiving every year….and her birthday falls on the holiday again this year!
We spend Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house every year with all of my extended family. It is fun, loud, full of love and delicious food! That night my children and I go to my other grandmother’s home to stay the night and help her put up her Christmas tree the next day. So grateful my children are making wonderful memories with my grandmothers, just like I did as a child.
Thanksgiving is spent at the old family farm. The women fix dinner while all the boys and men go out rabbit hunting. Our hosts are now in their 80’s so we don’t know how many more years we have left of the tradition, but our boys have some wonderful memories.
As I live in Arizona and all of my family lives in Nebraska, Thanksgiving is the only holiday that I fly back for. I love spending that extra time with my family and gathering around snacking until all the food is ready to be set. That time with my family and each of their little families is priceless. :)
We always close out the night watching Elf with the grandparents, aunts and uncles. All the kids just love it. If I had my way, we’d watch It’s a Wonderful Life instead, but the kids have so much fun with Elf (okay..I do too:) ).
Friendsgiving. My husband and I live far away from our families, so we spend thanksgiving with friends in similar situations. We have a potluck dinner that involves hanging out all afternoon and well into the evening. I love when people bring their versions of foods that remind them of thanksgiving!
Great tips! Your table looks beautiful!
My favorite part about Thanksgiving: 4 days off with family. That’s the only time all year that my husband gets to be home with us for 4 days in a row! The food, tree-cutting, & fires in fireplace are all bonuses ?
I think it would have to be the appetizers. I put as much effort into those some years as I do the meal.
What a beautiful table! I just love the earthy feel! My family has a holiday “bake off” each year. So each of us bakes a new dessert to enter! There is a table of desserts to enjoy through the rest of the evening after dinner and the winner of best dessert gets a chefs hat that says 1st place on it and bragging rights for the year. It is a fun way to get EVER envolved in the holiday spirit! :)
Hope you and your family are enjoying your new space ??
I cannot think of any Thanksgiving traditions! Ever since getting married eight years ago, every year has been different. Maybe I’ll just go with leftover turkey sandwiches. LOL, that’s the only Thanksgiving tradition that has carried over from when I was a kid.
Our favorite tradition is going around the table and hearing what everyone is thankful for. It’s fun to hear all the different answers….silly answers from the two year old, to the well thought out heartfelt answer from great-grandma. It’s a beautiful way to really reflect on everything we have to be thankful for!
Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s the perfect backdrop to early morning food prep and watching the New York weather makes Texas feel a little colder.
I love cooking most of the day with my dad. Most relaxing day all year filled with family!
I always love everyone talking about what they are thankful that year!! After dinner making a plan to do some Black Friday shopping!!
My favorite tradition is every year after we eat we have family game night at my grandmothers. Everyone plays and it’s always so fun. We laugh until we cry!
I love the Chevron bread board–the two shades of wood in one of my favorite patterns. Thank you for this lovely example of a simple yet elegant tables are. I am always fond of natural elements like the leaves, flowers and wood mixed with the vintage charm of tarnished silver.
During the month of November we always focus on Thankfulness as a family. Usually we have a simple way to write something down each day and then display our “thanks” to keep us thankful. It’s a great way to prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
My family is scattered far and wide,as is my husband’s, so we celebrate with our “family of the heart” – friends and neighbors who are as close to us as our biological families! One “tradition” we’ve started is to bring out “table games” after everyone is done eating. While my husband and I clear the table and load the dishwasher, guests pla, and pass around, “Shutthe Box”, “Jishaku”, “Tenzi”, and various tavern puzzles. Keeps everyone busy and entertained while we clean up and get dessert ready.
We go to my daughter’s house. It started out with just a few family members, but every year she asks someone new, and now her house is packed with people. We have the best time talking, laughing, kidding each other, and eating a most delicious meal. Several people also bring something along, so the food is plentiful and varied and always wonderful. It’s a great time and such a nice tradition.
You did a great job on the table. It’s beautiful!
I have inherited Thanksgivng dinner at our house now that our parents are getting older and have hosted the last three years. I was nervous the first year and went way overboard on the food and decorating the house but now I keep it simple and focus on family and the food. The house is good enough as is with a just a few fall touches. I’d rather spend time enjoying the three generations in the house.
We are a military family, so we are normally far from “home” for Thanksgiving. We have made a habit of sharing the holiday with new friends, and trying our best to include something special for each person in attendance. It can vary from a certain type of cranberry sauce preferred by a guest to a favorite board game afterward. The goal is to make it feel like we are family!
Your table is lovely! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday hands down! My family and my brother’s family still go home to our parents’ home and spend several days there. It’s crowded and fun! My mom has pretty much the same menu every year…we count on it! My favorite is her Date Pudding!
My favorite tradition is going to the local thanksgiving day parade. Everyone is in good spirits and the weather is usually perfect.
Cooking with my mom in the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning while the Thanksgiving Day parades are on TV and flipping through the newspaper and Black Friday ads. I remember being in elementary school when I started doing this with her, and still do it when I am with them for Thanksgiving every other year. Those moments will be remembered forever.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is just being with all of our loved ones and enjoying each other’s company without all of the expectations and pressure of a holiday like Christmas. We relax, catch up with each other, anticipate the big meal, and then afterwards start working on Christmas plans.
Each year my husband and I host Thanksgiving dinner, so it has become our tradition. I love Thanksgiving too. It’s right up there with Christmas for me. I love your photos, Emily. Was this set up in your new house? The light is great! What a beautiful table. I really like all the Pier 1 items, from the napkins to the marble pieces. This is a great reminder to check out Pier 1.
Claudia
Thanksgiving at Jack and Jane’s (my husband’s grandparents) home was like no other. The Lemke Annual Pea Pool tournament was held every year after dinner. Banners from past years adorned the basement walls, signed by every family member with congratulations for the winner. As technology advanced, pictures of proud victories and videos of hilarious moments were recorded and posted. Like the time my brother-in-law hit the ball with the bridge instead of the pool stick–the original “bridgegate”. We even had a trophy–a terra cotta flower pot flipped over and topped with a beer stein. The winner signed the flower pot every year. For almost 15 years, the Lemke family played pea pool after Thanksgiving dinner, and it is forever one of my favorite holiday traditions!
So pretty!
My family does a run/walk together every Thanksgiving. It is a nice way to start the day and work up an appetite before the big meal!
We celebrate with family on Thanksgiving day with a huge dinner at my parents. The night after Thanksgiving, our community has a lights parade to kick off the Christmas season. We invite family and friends over to continue the festivities with another dinner and to watch the parade. It’s a 21 year tradition this year. I love how this time incorporates family, faith, food, and tradition over the course of several days.