This isn't the Martha Stewart holiday you were expecting...

With our first thanksgiving hosting stint officially behind us, I'm reminded that things aren't always so perfect. My quest for the quintessential Martha Stewart holiday is but a dream (well, minus the food part...the husband had that one down pat!). And really, that's okay. But for the sake of conversation, let's discuss the finer points of the day, shall we?

1. For starters, I'm a little annoyed that our formal dining room table didn't come with 13 chairs to perfectly accomodate our 13 guests. Instead, we were left to improvise with what we had...6 formal chairs & 7 blue folding chairs. Surely Martha would have had extra formal chairs floating around somewhere & wouldn't need to resort to such half-hazzard ways of seating dinner guests.

2. Equally annoying is the fact that not one wedding guest thought to give us that THIRTEENTH place setting. Instead, we used our 12 beautiful sets of china & 1 everyday plate. And guess who got the everyday plate (that was set on a corner seat, no less)? Your's truly. Which, truth be told was just fine with me. Nothing says happy thanksgiving like sitting in the corner seat while wearing a sweater dress.

3. It's a good thing we registered for the 8-piece setting of silverware. Because, surely, we'd never have more than 8 dinner guests in our home at the same time. Right?

4. For the love of god, why don't we have 13 cloth napkins that actually match?? The husband thought it would be okay to "blend" our neutral cream colored napkins with our fun & punchy green Crate & Barrel napkins. Dear husband: fun & punchy was not the look I'm going for here. Neither were the "last resort" fall paper napkins I picked up at Wegman's (classy, eh?). Which meant my fabulous napkin rings were also a no-go. Nothing was going right at this point...

photo courtesy of Crate & Barrel


5. People want the cool whip...they need the cool whip! The husband "conveniently" forgot this point during his shopping trip. Thankfully, my cousin Allie was on top of it. Whew. We were this close to a major Thanksgiving catastrophe.

6. I never thought it was possible to lose weight during the actual thanksgiving day celebration. This was made possible due to the constant running up and down the stairs (x's 3,984) during the course of the day (after running a 5-mile Turkey Trot that same morning, no less). I don't think the husband realized it at the time, but a finished kitchen is actually necessary to host a feast for 13 people. Minor detail, no?

But you know what? In the end, our first hosting gig was a success. A tad bit exhausting--I may or may not be still recovering--but a success no less. The food was perfect (thank you husband), everyone had a great time (I'm guessing consumption of alcohol helped this aspect), and no one noticed if the house wasn't perfect. But they did enjoy the fabulous table scape with a last minute assortment of cloth napkins made possible by HomeGoods (& the great sales girl who gave them to me for $1.99...must have been the preferred customer "discount" wink, wink).



(omg, did I really leave my camera case on the table??)


I think the husband affectionately referred to this thanksgiving as the Superbowl. Should I remind him that the Superbowl travels from city to city, which means we're officially NOT IT for next year's hosting duties??

On that note, here's hoping your thanksgiving was equally as enjoyable, somewhat less stressful, and the most memorable one yet!