Farm Friday Becomes - For Today - Thanksgiving Post-Mortem

The dishes are washed, the leftovers put away, and all (well, most) of the relations have been seen home.

Now check yourself. Got guilt?

Do you feel guilty for not having set up a home-decorating-magazine-cover-worthy table?

That's where I come in. I'm here to make you feel better about yourself for not hand-carving Jack-B-Little pumpkins into likenesses of your guests as place markers.

Were I truly on the ball, I would have done this in the days leading up to Turkey Day so I could have saved you all some decorating angst.

But on the ball I am not, so you'll have to take my words to heart and use them to help guide you for next year. Or maybe for the next holiday in which you find yourself having palpitations over table envy.

So dishes.

Elegantly set tables are a thing of beauty. And if I was having dinner over someone else's house? I would be all oohing and ahhing. But if they're eating at my house?

























It's paper, baby. But not just any paper. For the holidays I get fancy and buy the nice stuff. Chinet. Oval-shaped. Of course, that's just for dinner. For dessert I use my everyday paper -- store-brand or Dixie, whichever is on special. No need to even get festive with orange plates. All your guests know it's fall and that the leaves turn orange. They don't need to be reminded of this fact of nature by the color of plates on your table.




















And napkins? Again, why go with linen when you can put paper on the table. I do like to dress things up a bit. When my sister was getting napkins out last night, I reminded her, get the nice ones, they're in the back. The Vanity Fair.
















Just my little way of letting my guests know how important to me they are.



Folks can get all kinds of fancy letting their guests know where to sit at the table.

















But in my mind, the simpler, the better. Just one more use for Post-Its.



















There are more helpful hints, but I'd better pace myself. I'm lazy that way. Besides, I think I might still have a little tryptophan in my system. Think I'll go take a nap.

Happy Thanksgiving!











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