It’s here, folks! The week of Thanksgiving! I’m so excited to share today’s post with you because it’s about one of my friends who has the gift of hospitality in spades! From her warm smile when she greets you at the door to the care she takes setting the table and preparing delicious food, she’s someone I draw inspiration from.
You’ve met her before—remember the glimpse you had inside her beautiful home?
Kelly is an artist with a flare for anything creative. She loves to have her large family gathered around the table at the holidays. And she’s letting us peek at what she’s planning for Thursday.
Her Goal as a Hostess
“We try to make our celebrations impactful,” Kelly says. “We want everyone who comes to know they are welcomed and wanted. Hospitality is a biggie in our family. We want everyone to leave feeling served, lifted and recharged.”
This Thanksgiving, as in the past, they’ll go around the table and share how they’ve seen the Lord’s hand throughout the last year, what they’re thankful for, and what they’re hopeful about and looking forward to in the next year.
This time last year Kelly and Rod were quarantined to a hospital room for two weeks for Rod to have a stem cell transplant. So, this year they are ELATED the Lord preserved his life and has restored his health.
They take their family’s heritage very seriously—from the items she uses on the table to the conversation.
“We intentionally talk about the vision and determination of those who have gone before us,” Kelly says. “And we discuss the sacrifices they made that enable us to enjoy our freedoms and the blessings of being together.”
Kelly mostly uses heirlooms that have been passed down from her family or things that she and Rod have accumulated via their antiquing/junking (BTW, that’s one of their FAVORITE activities). This year she’s using her grandmother’s fine china mixed with some hand-thrown pottery found on one of their “junkin’ jaunts.” She’ll also use her mother’s pewter flatware and some of her great-grandmother’s linens.
For the centerpiece she’s using candlesticks, pumpkins, grasses, pinecones, dried hydrangea and fall-colored stems from their farm on an eight-foot maple board.
Kelly sets places for grandparents, great-grandparents, parents, children, cousins, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers and often guests who don’t have family gather for the holidays. This year they’ll be missing a son who is an active-duty Marine. He’s missed four out of the last five Thanksgivings, but they set a place for him anyway. This year will be the last of that though. He’s coming home in the spring!
This Year’s Menu
Some years she serves turkey, but she’s also served bison, elk, duck, or beef tenderloin. Always with the traditional southern sides though!
2021’s Appetizers:
Sausage Balls
Cream Cheese with Pickapeppa Sauce and Crax
Pimiento Cheese on Toast Points
Roasted Pecans
Main Meal
Smoked Turkey
Cornbread Dressing
Sweet Potato Casserole
Spinach Artichoke Casserole
Scalloped or Mashed Potatoes
Squash Casserole
Snap Bean Casserole
Rice and Gravy
Lima Beans
Deviled Eggs
Rolls (homemade or Sister Schuberts)
Cranberry Sauce (Kelly says, “Very few eat it, but we always feel like we have to have it.” HA!)
Desserts
Uncle James’s Buttermilk Pie
Derby Pie
Here’s what the day will look like…
They all share in the cooking except for a few set things:
♦ The men prepare all holiday meats (Can I get an AMEN?!!)
♦ Only Kelly’s sister, Scottie, makes the cornbread dressing.
♦ And Kelly’s daughter, Maddie, the baker in the family, makes all the desserts.
“It’s really REALLY loud here on Thanksgiving. Lots of hugs, goofiness, cooking, music, singing, dancing, celebrating, laughing, story-telling and reminiscing.”
9 a.m. –Turn on Thanksgiving Playlist. (See my Thanksgiving playlist here.) & Rod, the family fire master, starts the 1st fire of the year
10 a.m.—Apps, Bloody Marys & college football (Egg Bowl!), football in the yard if the weather allows
12:45 p.m.—water glasses are filled
1 p.m.—Thanksgiving meal
Post Meal—rest, play outside (hence the above picture of a “reenactment of the Pilgrims” in the pontoon), karaoke (which brings lots of burning of calories from more dancing and side-splitting laughing to the bone), games
6 p.m.—Nibble on leftovers and sip seasonal coffee drink
Kelly’s Tips for Hosting a Big Gathering
- Make what you can ahead of time so the day can be shared instead of completely taken over with cooking. She recommends cooking everything the day before, so all you have to do is warm it up.
- Lay out your serving pieces and any warmers you’re going to use. Label them with what they’ll be used for. She does this a week ahead of time.
- Set the table a week ahead of time with washed glasses turned down. She rewashes her dishes and flatware the day before the meal.
- Have a designated self-serve area for the before-meal drinks. She asks one of the men to be in charge of making drinks and keeping glasses filled. She also keeps pitchers of water set out.
- For sit-down meals, she always has name tags at each place settings so no one feels awkward about where to sit.
- Designate someone to take coats and purses so people aren’t wondering where to put their things.
- Finally, my personal favorite: Be prepared to punt. Things don’t always come off as planned.
Countdown!
We just have three more night’s sleeps before turkeys will begin appearing on beautifully-set tables across America!
I’m so thankful to have friends like Kelly who cherishes her family and her heritage. She’s inspired me to be a little more intentional about our Thanksgiving meal.
Do you have any traditions that make your Thanksgiving “yours”? Let me know! I love celebrating with everyone!
