Good Friday morning! Fall has flashed by in a blur and Thanksgiving is less than a week away! I’m not hosting Thanksgiving but I did host our small group’s annual “Friendsgiving” this week. Beside the usual weekly cleaning routine, here are a few extra preparations I worked into the week leading up to our little feast!
Even though I’d put out a few fall-ish items at my front door early in the season, it was time to freshen things up a bit. My summer ferns were still looking too good for me to move so I left those, swept the concrete, added a fresh door mat and a couple more pumpkins from my son’s pumpkin patch (more on his pumpkin patch soon!). I took one of my winter wreaths and added some fuzzy gold stems for a harvest-y look. After Thanksgiving, the gold stems will be removed for winter. I sure was hoping to get my front door painted or stained this fall, but didn’t get it done and that’s okay.
I like to give my oven a good cleaning before all the holiday cooking and baking. I had not cleaned it in a while so it was a MESS! I opened our windows (because the fumes from the self-cleaning make us queasy–anyone else?), ran the self-cleaning setting for 3 hours and let it cool.
Next, I applied a paste of 1/2 cup baking soda, 1 Tbsp. course salt, 1/4 cup Dawn, and 5 drops of lemon essential oil. I used to use a popular oven cleaning spray that would make me sick. This mixture smelled so fresh and clean all through my kitchen! I left it on for the rest of the afternoon and then wiped it out with a wet rag that evening.
I felt better about putting my ham and turkey into this clean oven.
If I’m using table linens, I try my best to iron them in advance because I’ve gotten myself in jams before where I was ironing them at the last minute–not fun. Our Friendsgiving meal was casual so I used table runners instead of tablecloths. I’ve been gradually changing our household products to plant-based, and I’m also trying to eliminate aerosols, but we don’t use starch much so for now I’m still sticking with the starch that has worked better than any I’ve ever tried. Surprisingly, it comes from Dollar General and costs a fraction of what the name brand starches cost. I like it because it doesn’t flake! In the future, I’ll be working on a natural solution and I’ll let you know when I find a winner, but since I don’t use much starch, this is fine for now.
While I’ve got the iron out, if I know what any of us are wearing for the occassion, I try to go ahead and iron that as well, if needed. We don’t always get that done ahead of time, which makes for a crazy frenzy the day of, but when it is done, things run much more smoothly.
Side story: I’m not much of a fashionista so I don’t talk clothes here much, but I was excited to get this new outfit from The Loft–a place I never shop. I’m a busy mom with little time to shop so I often just quickly pick up my clothes where I pick up my toothpaste–Target or Walmart, ha!…or sometimes Old Navy. My husband and I had an event to attend and we weren’t clear on the dress for the occasion but finally decided business casual was probably appropriate. After trying my usual places with no success, I noticed The Loft advertised a big sale. Not expecting to find anything, but desperate enough to try, I walked in and ended up purchasing a few lovely items including corduroy pants for $35! That’s close to my Target price for pants so I was happy with that find, especially since they’re amazing quality. I got so tickled arriving home with my fancy froufrou shopping bag which was stuffed with tissue paper. Tissue! Usually, my clothes come home in plastic bags….with my toothpaste, haha! I love the rich fall colors of this outfit!
And since going into the winter season of corduroy, I have a tip for ironing corduroy pants. I like to hang-dry my pants (because I can’t spare an inch during the holiday season!), but it leaves them very wrinkled and “crunchy”. So they need to be ironed, but ironing them makes those strange smooshy patterns from the iron. I’ve found that turning my pants inside out and ironing the inside gets all the wrinkles out while giving my pants a smooth, almost velvety finish.
My next little hosting tip for today is a little trick I use with my hair to make getting ready before company a lot easier. Because there is much work to be done on the day of an event, I used to wait until late in the day to shower and get ready, but then I’d find myself rushing to the shower at the last minute.
My solution: I get completely ready first thing in the morning–hair and makeup–and put my hair in a ponytail. Yes, a ponytail. It keeps my hair out of my face while I’m working all day and makes for an easy, sleek style for company.
All I have to do before everyone arrives is run back to my bedroom, change clothes, powder my nose and apply some lip gloss, fluff my ponytail, and add some statement earrings! I find that larger earrings jazz up an everyday ponytail and my hair will continue to stay out of my face while I’m hosting throughout the evening.
One last tip that I know we are all aware of but is worth mentioning is to let people bring something if they offer. My only acceptations to this are: 1)when we’re having people over to truly treat and spoil them for some special reason, and 2) when we’re hosting someone in our home for the first time. We always tell new friends that we’ll let them bring something the next time they come because we will be having them again!
Our small group has an understanding that the hosting family provides the meat entrée and everyone else provides sides and dessert. As evidenced from the plate above, our small group has some excellent cooks! This meal was so delicious! I prepared the turkey, ham, rolls and cranberry sauce. The other ladies brought sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, green beans, macaroni and cheese, and pumpkin and caramel pies! And my sweet mom generously provided our cornbread dressing! I texted her to get her recipe because I loooooove my mama’s dressing. Since she doesn’t really use a recipe, she offered to just make it for me–what a blessing! My hairdresser and I were recently chuckling about how everyone says their mama’s dressing is the best. So true, right!
We had a wonderful Friendsgiving with what we call our “Framily”. The families in our group have been through so much this year, we were almost emotional about being together, gathering for a bountiful feast of food and time in the Word.
The next morning I woke with a migraine. I had so much that needed to get done, but cleaning my house was not one of them. It was nice to have had that done for company. I spent a good bit of the day, between a few tasks I just had to do, lying in bed with my heating pad and occasionally my kitty.
I’d love to hear your best tips for hosting Thanksgiving or any occasion.
Wonderful tips. All of them! I still sometimes struggle with running around at the last minute. Often there’s no way to avoid it. But planning ahead is my biggest tip. I prefer to do it on my phone because I always have it with me. I use my notes app. I’ll start the notes with the event name, date, time, etc. I add the guest list next. I check them off as they RSVP. I’ll add ideas for theme, table setting, menu, etc. Then I make a shopping list. Finally, I make a to do list for the day of the event. I add times beside each item. It helps keep me on track!
Yes, planning ahead! I too use my notes app on my phone, but I’m such a paper and pen girl, I keep a notebook for my more detailed notes, lists, and menus.
Your wreath is beautiful!! We enjoyed Friendsgiving at your house; fellowship with our friends is the sweetest time!
The funny thing is I was using YOUR door wreath as my motivation! 😄 Enjoyed having y’all in our home. The littles are just precious! 🥰
Quite ironic that you are blogging about your Thanksgiving meal! With some events on the calendar the first part of the week of Thanksgiving, I decided I should go on today and make the dressing and pop it in the freezer along with my German chocolate cake layers! The homemade pie crusts are already in the freezer. The washer is swirling guest linens and comforters as I type so the guest beds will have fresh linens from top to bottom! Quiet moments of the day offer opportunities to think about table placements and centerpieces! With our large group, this can’t be a last minute thing! As you know, it takes planning!
I just brewed a cup of coffee in the coffee maker (not my first cup of the day)! With the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, cake layers in the oven, the cool weather of the morning and the cornbread cooling for the dressing…I thought, this feels like the holidays! The best feeling of all is the gratefulness in my heart for your Dad’s coming through a difficult year of health issues! God has blessed him and in turn, our family!
Whew, you’re busy! We’re about to get the boy’s bedroom (aka “the lodge”) ready for a special guest this weekend!
Most definitely, at the top of our grateful list this year is Dad’s healing, for sure!