Our First Thanksgiving

I was super nervous about hosting Thanksgiving. I had never done anything this big before (meal wise, I have thrown some crazy parties back in my day) and I really wanted it to go as smooth as possible. I also wanted the house to look perfect since my sister and her fiance had never seen it and my parents had seen it since the weekend we moved in Mother's Day weekend. I went a little over board with cleaning and trying to make everything as perfect as possible. Which when it really came down to it, your family loves you anyways right?

I had bought a giant bad of burlap from Home Depot with a helpful Pinterest tip for some home crafting projects for the holidays. And if you are curious where to find it (since I wandered the store aimlessly for about 25 minutes before I could find it) is located in the outdoor part of the garden area. Even in winter. Still not a bad deal though,  although if you need a tighter weave burlap, try a fabric store.

I want a lot of burlap for a "very burlapy Christmas" (more on that to come) but for starters, we are I wanted a nice table runner for our grand fest. After I had prepped the bird and in between the first basting, I threw this little number together.

I rolled out the burlap just a tiny bit longer than the length of the two tables. Of course with a table runner, you want it to be longer than the length of your table. After I had my length, I folded the burlap in until the seams met and the width was even.

To make the edges raw, I cut down the length of the burlap on each side.

I saved the ends for other craft projects for Christmas. I also trimmed off loose ends to give a more uniformed look.

Here is the new beaut with just our new farm table with the leaf in. All this was done in about 15 minutes.

We had quite the spread for dinner. It was the first big family affair I ever put on so I was so happy all the food turned out deliciously.  I was happy to use my grandmother's antique dishes.

My mother said that I had quite the bird and it was the kind you "had to take a picture of". I quite a few recipes for the dinner from Bon Appétit Magazine's November 2005 issue for The Ultimate Turkey and Gravy Base, Maple Glazed Sweet Potatoes and Mulled-Wine Cranberry Sauce. The great thing about recipes is that even though their are food trends, a good meal is still a good meal. I couldn't have been happier with the overall turnout. My mom actually said that she was always worried that I would never really learn to cook. She was delightfully proved wrong.

A Dolezal family photo to end the day. Smiles all around.