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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

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November 20, 2015

Thanksgiving Table Setting Ideas

Well, hello from redheadcandecorate.com!

As I sit hear writing to you, I am roasting a chicken in our oven early in the day so it’s ready for dinner tonight after I run some errands. Let me tell you…the aroma is totally putting me in the mood for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving-Table-Ideas-those-plates-are-from-the-dollar-store1

As a little girl I remember Thanksgiving well. My Dad did most of the cooking, and my Mom did most of the running around cleaning and preparing the odds and ends that go along with Thanksgiving dinner. I remember setting the table and writing everyone’s name on their napkin with marker. I may or may not have eaten an entire can of black olives while doing my decorating back then, but we will keep that part a secret.

Today, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my more recent Thanksgiving tables with you. However, I also want you to know, that having all this decor on the table makes it virtually impossible to have the food on there too! With that being said, most of these photos were not taken on Thanksgiving. These are staged photos that I design in hopes that you find 1-2 affordable, easy ideas that may work into your busy Thanksgiving schedule. The very very last table was actually taken on Thanksgiving and represents more of what goes on at my house on Thanksgiving.

Thankful Table

  • Use a scarf as a runner.
  • Write Thankful on a mini-chalkboard with chalk pens (found at Michael’s).
  • Plates & “silver” napkin holders are from the dollar store.
  • Use items you have like apples, real leaves, real acorns/pinecones to decorate the center.
  • Pilgrim salt & pepper shakers are from Publix.

Thankful!

Green Bean Table

  • Gather fresh green beans around a candle with a rubber band and tie a ribbon to cover up the rubber band. Rest it all on a bed of fresh cranberries. Silver platter is from the thrift store.
  • Use plain white drawing paper as a runner for a clean look.
  • Tie ribbon around the the plates and napkins.
  • Pumpkins & acorn squash are gorgeous together this time of year.
  • Doodled Memory Bench I made by painting a bench with white paint and using my own handwriting to doodle family memories onto it. You can view more on that here: Doodle Memory Bench

Beautiful Thanksgiving Table Decorated with Corelle Dishes & Corningware

Green-Bean-Candle-Centerpeice-by-redheadcandecorate.com_-768x1024

Vintage White Dining Set Thanksgiving Makeover

  • My Dad painted this free dining set a neighbor was going to throw out. I took full advantage after he painted it and decorated it outside for fun.
  • Blue plates are from thrift store.
  • Leaves are real Oak leaves from our yard.
  • Brown paper runner roll can be found at Home Depot in the paint section.

Affordable Thanksgiving Table by Redheadcandecorate.com

thanksgiving 1

Colorful Thanksgiving Table

  • I used spare fabric I happen to have and draped it like a diamond over the table because it was too small to fit.
  • Use fresh cranberries (they are on sale now!) in your centerpiece bowl.
  • Red chargers under the dollar store plates were .99 at Hobby Lobby.
  • Roll your napkins up and tie twine around them.

Thanksgiving Table 2012

thanksgiving 12

Non Staged Family Fun Thanksgiving Table

  • Have family members gather around the table before you eat and ask them to write down what they are thankful for.
  • Brown paper roll can be found at Home Depot in the paint section (per inexpensive too!)
  • Tape underneath to secure and write everyone’s name on it to help everyone feel special.
  • Write a question to get it started.
  • Provide plenty of utensils.

thanksgiving Table 2013

thanksgiving w turkey

Thanks so much for meeting me here again today At the Picket Fence!

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3 Comments Filed Under: Celebrations, Good Ideas, Holidays, Thanksgiving Tagged With: holidays, tablescape, Thanksgiving

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Comments

  1. Susie @ The Chelsea Project Blog says

    November 20, 2015 at 4:57 AM

    Lovely settings. I don’t think I can pick a favorite so I will say they are all my favorite. But, I can already see the candle wrapped in green beans sitting on my table. Thanks for sharing. Enjoyed these so much.

    Reply
    • Julie Fiato says

      November 20, 2015 at 7:17 AM

      Let me know how it goes, Susie! Thank you for your kind words! Happy Thanksgiving.

      Reply
  2. Loves the Find says

    November 24, 2015 at 5:36 AM

    Beautiful table settings. I love the brown paper idea with everyone helping out to make a lovely table. https://www.lovesthefind.com/

    Reply

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I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 y I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 years now and every year I ohhhh and ahhhh over the blossoms like it's the first time I've ever seen them. I gush and I take photos (that look exactly like the ones I took the year before and the year before that) and I make my family come outside and look at them with me which you know they just LOVE to do. 😉 I think that is one of the main reasons why I love spring so much. On the one hand, it's predictable and yet, on the other hand, it still feels like such a surprise after the long months of barren branches.

And yesterday, as I was staring at the gorgeous blossoms for the umpteenth time, I couldn't help but think that I hope this is how I feel when our lives return to some semblance of normalcy.

I hope that the predictable feels special and that the typical feels anything but. I hope that I ohhh and ahhh over the simple things I've realized I've taken for granted. And, most of all, I hope that feeling doesn't go away for a very, very long time! 💗
Are you living with great expectation friends? Bec Are you living with great expectation friends? Because He is risen!

Happy Easter from my home to yours!
Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to be a different kind of Easter for sure but some things don’t change. Have you been baking and getting ready for tomorrow? What’s one thing on your menu that you have to have every year?
If this is Good Friday, why doesn’t it feel so “good”? It all seems backward doesn’t it?

What could be good about the unspeakable pain he suffered? What could be good about the shame and betrayal?

Easter Sunday is so joyful, bright and cheery. Shouldn’t that be the day we call “good”? It just feels so much better!

But, I don’t know how to rejoice over His resurrection, unless I have felt the pain of His death. I have realized that in life the sweetest victories are the ones which were realized after a pain-filled journey.

And, so it is with Good Friday. I know there will be victory over death, but I can’t skip ahead in the story.

Jesus knew what was coming. He knew what he would experience. And he knew why he would go through it. He did it for me. He did it for you.

Do you know that? Have you felt it down in the very core of your soul? 
Sometimes it makes me squirm a bit. Why would anyone do that for me?

Well, because, I can’t do it for myself!

There is nothing I can do to earn that kind of love and mercy.

That is why it is called GRACE.

His grace is freely given. We don’t have to pay for it. He paid the price for us already.

Do you remember that movie from years ago called “Ransom”? A couple’s young son was kidnapped and the parents went to hell and back trying to find him and pay the “ransom” demanded by the kidnappers.

Well, Jesus is our “ransom”. (1 Timothy 2:6) His life was the payment.

Why is it called “Good Friday”? Because that wasn’t the end of the story….
.
…It was just the beginning!
Raise your hand if there’s a table in your house Raise your hand if there’s a table in your house that’s become the landing zone for ALL THE THINGS! 🙋🏻‍♀️🤪 I’ve never been more thankful for our rarely used dining room table as it’s become command central for school books and laptops and games.

Where are things collecting in your house right now?
“Sighing, tears, frustration, anger.” Every si “Sighing, tears, frustration, anger.” Every single one of these emotions has made their way through our home in recent days and, my guess is, they have in your home too.

I SO needed this reminder today from the new book ‘Adore’ by @sarahagertywrites.

Adoration isn’t just sitting at His feet gazing longingly with stars in my eyes. It’s bringing my fears and my sorrows and gray roots in my hair that desperately needs to be colored and my messy house and all of the things that threaten to send me over the edge right now and laying them down before Him, soaking up His word and His presence so that when I stand back up, I am changed for having spent the time adoring the ONE who is... Healer, comforter, peace-giver, deliverer, redeemer.

What do you need to bring to Him today? I’ll share mine in the comments and I’d love to hear from you too!
I’ve always loved evenings, but since this whole I’ve always loved evenings, but since this whole lockdown thing began, I’ve come to appreciate this time of day even more.

It feels the most...normal. Daytime is strange and foreign right now. My husband has taken over our home office, I’m suddenly taking over the responsibility of managing my kids’ distance learning and let me just say that teaching 7th grade algebra to my daughter is hugely ironic since I struggled with math all the way through school. I’m trying to do my own work but it feels utterly futile with the constant interruptions which take precedence right now. In the daytime, I’m constantly reminded of how upside down life feels.

But, in the evening, I cook dinner like I’ve always done and we gather around the table like we’ve always done and we laugh and tell stories and then clean up and play games or go on a walk or watch a show. And that feels SO gloriously normal.

So now I love evenings even more than I ever did before and I’m so grateful for this little chunk of time where the rhythms we established years ago are helping to sustain us now when so much of life feels outside of our control.

What feels ‘normal’ to you right now? Whatever it is, keep doing it. 🌿
When I was in college I would frequently call home When I was in college I would frequently call home and pour my heart out to my mom, sharing with her all that was happening in my life in that completely unfiltered way that you can talk with the person who potty trained you. These phone calls usually took place at night and my mom would patiently listen as I vented frustrations about professors, roommates, boyfriends and the food in the cafeteria. And, inevitably, they would end with my mom saying, “Everything seems worse when you’re tired. Try not to overthink things or make any major decisions tonight, especially when you are feeling emotional.” Dear friends, may I pass along this advice to you today?

If you don’t absolutely HAVE to make a decision right now, I want to encourage you to wait until life gets back to normal. If you are finding yourself over-analyzing relationships and family dynamics, I want to encourage you to remember that everything seems more dramatic when looked at under a microscope. And, let’s face it, being homebound with our loved ones non-stop makes us all feel like lab rats in an experiment.

If you are tempted to quit a job, start a business, start homeschooling permanently, stop homeschooling permanently, move to a new city, buy a farm, quit pursuing your dream, join a commune or make any other major life decision just…wait. Because, if it is in fact the right decision, it will be made even clearer once our lives return to their ‘regularly scheduled programming’. Instead, in this strange season, let’s all just take a deep, collective breath and let it out slowly, releasing the anxiety that threatens to overtake us. Let’s help each other maintain some perspective and not slip into a posture of over-thinking every little thing in our lives. Let’s remember that the enemy of our souls would love nothing more than to use this time when things feel dark to manipulate us into thinking that aspects of our lives are worse than they actually are.

My prayer for you in these days is that you will have the clarity to know what is true and that you will be filled with peace even while we live in this season of so many unknowns.
Raise your hand if you’re doing more baking thes Raise your hand if you’re doing more baking these days! 🙋🏻‍♀️ I’m trying to avoid gaining the #corona15 but my daughter and I LOVE baking together and it does help to pass the time plus it counts as a science lesson right?

If you’re able to find flour in the stores (for the love people please stop overbuying!) and you’re doing more baking at your house too you need to add this apricot bread to your list of new recipes to try!

Normally I’d point you to my blog for the directions but I’m going to do you a solid and leave the full recipe in the comments.

What have you baked so far during this time of social distancing? I’d love some new ideas!
There are a LOT of people out walking in our neigh There are a LOT of people out walking in our neighborhood right now (but still social distancing!) and she decided that she wanted to bring them some joy and put a smile on their face when they pass by our house. Also, the square with ‘say no to coronavirus’ is priceless. 😂 I just love her so much!
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