Holiday Planning

As you can probably tell, I get a little goofy with planning. When I have a clear, simple goal to work towards, I am much more productive and creative. That's why the general task of "decorating the house" is a little overwhelming to me, because it's a bit too big. I have to tackle it in small chunks, isolating trouble areas a few at a time.

You can also tackle the problem from the side, and instead of saying "Today I'm going to work on the living room, tomorrow the dining room" etc, you can choose projects that will contribute to large problems in small ways. My favorite way to do this is to decorate for holidays, and then throw parties for friends and family. I did this last Christmas, in an effort to improve my glassware and platter collections. And I would throw a house-warming party to have an excuse to round out the living room, but we don't know many people here yet.

Instead, I'm hugely preoccupied with Thanksgiving. It's without a doubt my favorite holiday, and this year I've volunteered to host my entire family. This includes my parents, brother, and grandmother, as well as my husband's mom, dad, sister, and grandmother. With the two of us, that makes ten people. Yikes! It'll be quite the undertaking, but I'm excited about it.

It's a big task, starting from almost nothing, and I've already been putting together everything I'll need. The dining room table was an important step, and we'll be trying to find a buffet to match it soon. The guest bedroom is another project, but we have a bed frame that just needs a mattress. I ordered the turkey on Saturday, from a local farmer that's raising the birds right now, and I feel great about that.

I've also been assembling some odds and ends that we'll need -

From the left is my wonderful $1 roasting pan from the Habitat for Humanity Restore, a carving set that my husband got at an antique store, a set of 10 white cloth napkins I got for $2 each at Pier One, and a few vintage Thanksgiving postcards for decorations.

Here's a close-up of the postcards. I love the ones with the giant white turkeys, I think they're so fun.

And here's the carving set, which we need to get sharpened somewhere, but will make a great addition to the table setting.

On a general decorating note, since the overall "completion" of the house affects the success of Thanksgiving, I wanted to show you one of my little terrariums.

This is my cactus terrarium, in a glass bubble jar I got for $3 (another antique store find, such a bargain!). The tall cactus is already almost too tall, but for now I think they look nice together. Paired with the frog, they make a cute and simple centerpiece for my dining room table. For Thanksgiving I anticipate they'll move to the living room.

And here's a close-up of the cacti. I liked the slight variations in color they have, especially against the wood on the table.

That's it for now! I'll keep you updated about how plans progress in the next two months. Especially on the matter of my delicious cranberry sauce.

- Caity