DesignsandEvents: Anticipating the Holidays

Hello, everybody. How is it going out there? Are you excited with the anticipation of Thanksgiving? I am hosting this year and starting to freak out, just a little bit, thinking about all the "stuff" I have to do to get ready for the crowd of twenty people I am having. Yes, twenty! Lots and lots of loved ones. And, lots and lots of fun. No need to freak out :). Right?

Because of the amount of people coming to our Thanksgiving this year, I have decided to go old school. By that I mean, really old school. We are going back to the 60's and fitting our finished basement with rented or borrowed banquet tables and having our feast down there. My dining room simply is not large enough to house that many people so, I am going to give this idea a shot and see how it works. I am hoping it will give my guests more spreading-out room on the main floor but, let's be honest, they'll probably all be in the kitchen most of the time, anyway :).

Of course, a big part of hosting any gathering for me is the holiday decorating, including table décor. I love holiday decorating! It is one of my favorite parts of the whole Thanksgiving experience. To be honest, if I could hire a chef or order take-out without the cost or personal shame involved, I would and, then, devote all of my attention to the decorating ;).

Thankfully, I did all of the fall decorating a month and a half ago. So, figuring out my Thanksgiving centerpiece and sprucing up the basement a little is all I have left to do on the decorating front.

This ⇣ was the table décor of my dining room a couple of years ago. I liked it very much but, the basement, of course, will have a whole different vibe.

Originally, I thought of going retro and doing 60's kinds of decorations; you know the ones with pine cone turkey place cards and all. But, then I found this photo I took right after Christmas at Pottery Barn last year and began to be inspired to try something new. I loved the make-shift battery-powered light chandelier.

This photo has inspired me to go in a different direction. I am thinking of creating something like the chandelier in the picture over the banquet tables. I am not sure I'll use the battery-powered lights. They are somewhat pricey but I might use some of my electric Christmas lights, of which I have a ton. What do you think? I'm kind of excited about the idea.

I am also thinking of laying fresh greens down the center of the tables to use as linear centerpieces. I would like to use Italian ruscus and, perhaps, silver dollar eucalyptus mixed with some bittersweet from the yard. I know you are not supposed to use bittersweet in arrangements anymore because of their invasive nature, but it is all over my yard, anyway, and I plan on very carefully disposing of it after Thanksgiving. I won't put it in the compost pile. Don't worry.

I will try to make time to take pictures so, I can show you how the whole experiment turns out.

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After Thanksgiving, the next thing to be done is to decorate for Christmas...