Thoughts of Thanksgiving

I'm excited to join in on the Thoughts of Home on Thursday Thanksgiving event this week and Jann's Share Your Cup. We'll be sharing share some of our favorite Thanksgiving vignettes and tablescapes and I thought I'd start today.

For me, it isn't really Thanksgiving unless I get out mom's turkey dishes (Johnson Bros., His Majesty). I remember going with mom and dad to Canada when I was maybe nine or ten to get these dishes and they've been part of my table ever since!

We used them on the last Thanksgiving we spent with my dad's cousin, Marie. Marie was my last remaining relative of the parental generation and died this past spring.

When I think of her, I think of that wonderful Thanksgiving. It was made special by many invisible guests at the table.

The table cloth came from Linda (Shoreacres). The wine coaster was a gift from my friend Jane -- it had been her parents'. And of course the silver and crystal was mom's.

There's a story about the crystal that I've shared here before. About seven years ago, Rick was in a serious bicycle accident in November. We had no Thanksgiving plans (the kids were with their mom) and planned on a quiet day. (I had a broken rib at the same time from tripping on a sidewalk crack under leaves -- be careful out there!) On Thanksgiving morning we awoke and felt relatively good. Knowing we had two sets of friends who were also spending their holiday alone, we called them spur of the moment and invited them for dinner.

Now, I agonize over things like this more often than not. But that day it was just "Please come." I didn't worry about party favors. I didn't have a centerpiece but pulled some things from the craft supplies and there it was. And then came the settings.

I knew the plates would go, of course, and the silver. But then I looked at Mom's wine glasses -- the glasses I never used because it was an out of print pattern and I was so afraid one would break. Having nearly lost Rick, though, changed my perspective. They do no one good sitting pretty in the cabinet. They must be used, for any day could be our last.

The group that day was warm and cozy. We all offered thanks, we all enjoyed dinner and fellowship in this throw-together potluck. And it was perhaps my most memorable Thanksgiving ever.

The turkey dishes make the rounds. When we have dinner at Rick's instead of my house, the dishes come along!

Our Thanksgiving is a mix of the traditional -- turkey and stuffing...

...along with new recipes, like this fabulous Sweet Potato casserole that is savory, not sweet.

We're never quite sure how we'll spend the holiday, which day family Thanksgiving will be, or where we will be, now that the kids are older.

But we do know this -- we will be with people we love and celebrate those who cannot be at the table. Our invisible guests, and giving thanks.