Tuesday, December 05, 2006

My Big, Fat, American, Thanksgiving!



 


My Big, Fat, American Thanksgiving!


 


After one cute call from my niece, asking me if I would help her talk her parents into buying her a camera for Christmas. One reminder call from my brother-in-law, telling me my drink is getting warm and to get on the road because there is traffic. Three prayers for no fatalities on the 15 South and driving an hour and a half while making up stories in my head where all the cars around me were going, I arrived at Thanksgiving dinner at my sisters house.


 


My cute little family, all 30 of them! Nieces, nephews, sisters, half-sisters, brothers-in-law, my mom, my half sisters dad (my mom’s ex-husband,) his wife, her kids, her kids kids…just one big American family eh? Well it’s what I call “My Big, Fat American Thanksgiving.” It’s pretty crazy that we can all have a good Thanksgiving dinner together considering the scenario. My mom call’s our family, “Happily Divorced.” To say the least.


 


How did we do it? My hostess with the mostess sister Amy, the “Rachel Ray” worshiping, wine connoisseur, makes throwing a party for 30 look as easy as eating two servings of pumpkin pie. Here’s how she did it:


 


Reservation for a Party of 30….


We’re loud people who like to laugh and be with each other. In our family, every joke is so good you don’t want to miss it.  Knowing this my sister wanted to keep us together. She took her dining room table and lined up 3 other long tables side by side. She alternated the table cloths two gold and two ivory. There were 6 settings on the long sides and 4 on the short sides. Everyone could see each other and yet still be intimate with the people next to them.


 


Comfortable conversation couches…


 Have you heard of the color personalities? Well if you ever have or you ever do my sister Amy is a blue. She is all about having conversation with people and connecting. You can totally tell by her affection for couches. She has four sets in her home. Every where you go is an opportunity to sit down and chat.


 


Sleepy sisters….


Okay so one minute I’m playing poker and partying with the family, the next minute I am passed out. Maybe too much tryptophan in the turkey or one too many shots of Patron with my brother in law, maybe it’s being over worked at www.FurnitureFromHome.com (no it couldn’t be that.) Whatever it was I was bloody tired. Good thing my sis has more than a couple sleeper sofas in her house. I woke up bright eyed and cheery ready, to get dogged by my family in the morning for not being able to “hang.” Hey there’s always next weekend.


 


When it comes to holiday entertaining, I’ve found that people beat themselves up until their running around like a head less turkey over the way things are “supposed to look” or the way their family is “supposed to be.” My family is incredibly unique, so who’s to say our entertaining shouldn’t be unique also. Think of what you want from your holidays and just do it. Is it seeing everyone at once at the dinner table? Having a comfortable place to chat in every room of your house? Having your entire family over for a sleep over? Whatever it may be, the thing to remember is each and every one of the people at your dinner table is there for a reason. It might not always look normal, but really how fun is normal? It’s your family which is far better than any fake bunch of models posing in Martha Stewart’s magazine next to plastic pumpkin pies. Besides those people don’t look very funny at all. By the way, whoever said once you become a mom you have to wear a sweater vest for every special occasion? Bad call!