Preparing Your Home for "Living Thanksgiving"
With Thanksgiving only a few short weeks away, I thought I would take a break from the step by step ways of discovering your style and focus, instead, on decorating for the holiday. The "season of chaos" has once again rolled around. If you are like me, the thought and preparation that take place for the holiday season are, at times, completely overwhelming. I was so relieved when my mother informed me that she would be hosting our family Thanksgiving dinner this year. When I moved into my house, Thanksgiving became my holiday. The first few years, I was so excited that I reached that point in my life where I could play a grown up role! Well, as time passed, I became like most people and lost my joy of playing host for Thanksgiving. I became so focused on all the things that had to be done, that I missed the reason for the celebration. My problem was that I procrastinated so much, and then when the week of Thanksgiving rolled around, I had so much to do and so little time to do it. All this to say, I have some tips for preparing your home for the celebration so you can experience "Living Thanksgiving." (I have been so thankful for Christie's blog posts!)
One thing that is necessary is all that cleaning. If you are like me, I find myself "deep cleaning" when I know that I am having a big event. Take it a room at a time and use the opportunity to purge your home of unused or unwanted items. We can especially make time to clean out our closets because there are so many opportunities to give our used clothes and coats to those who are in need. Sometimes when I am in the mood to purge, I make a point to take one item that I am tired of out of my closet every time I get ready in the mornings. You can also do some "decorating" purging. Unlike clothes, there aren't starving people on the streets that need our decorative items, but you can host a quick yard sale and take the money earned to support a ministry opportunity in your church or community.
Something else that we can do ahead of time is to plan our table. Usually at this point in the game, we have a number of guests. By knowing this, we can plan for the number of tables that we will need or whether or not we need to plan buffet style. Last year, I had a house full and I just planned buffet style so that everyone could sit where they were comfortable and enjoy each other's company. If you are planning on a smaller number, there are some cute and simple ideas to decorate your table. Here are some examples:
When setting up your centerpieces, use things that you might find in nature. I don't know if you all have noticed, but the leaves are beautiful this year. Pick some off your trees and scatter them around on your serving table. Pine cones are fun for kids' tables because you can make the old standby "turkey out of a pine cone with construction paper feathers and beak" for making their table festive. One thing that I like to use for serving is McCarty's and Peter's Pottery. Since a lot of us are Mississippi girls, we can usually find a piece or two of this in our cabinets.
I think that Thanksgiving is my favorite celebration of the year. Thankfulness should be the essence of our everyday lives as Christians. If we get too wrapped up in the craziness of preparation and clean up, we will miss the valuable opportunities that we have to spend with our families and friends. Make it easy on yourself with the good use of your time and energy, and prepare your home so that others feel relaxed.
In Him,
Stacy
Stacy McSpadden
Manager of Interior Design Services
Chestnut Hall Interiors
3075 Forest Hill Irene Road
Germantown, Tennessee 38138
901.753.8515
stacy@chestnuthall.com
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