Monday, November 25, 2013

Pre-giving 2013

I am deep into Thanksgiving prep over here, getting ready for my favorite holiday. We kicked it off with pre-giving over the weekend and I'm so glad that we've started this tradition. It's a chance for me to test out new recipes (family Thanksgiving is all about old favorites and I wouldn't want to traumatize anyone by tampering with the stuffing recipe) and having a really long, leisurely dinner with friends is certainly something to be grateful for. It somehow manages to take all the pressure off the family holiday and leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy about both celebrations.

pre-giving table
{pre-giving table}


apps
{apps}


piles
{piles}

persimmons and crocheted lace
{persimmons and crocheted lace}

ready for guests
{ready for guests}

pre dessert games
{pre-dessert games}

It was slightly complicated by the fact that we settled on an apartment (!!!) which means we're moving in a couple weeks (yes, in the middle of one of the busiest months of the year - we're geniuses, clearly). I got excited the day we put down the deposit and starting listing our furniture on Craigslist, thinking it might take a while to sell, and then all our bookshelves and our coffee table went immediately, leaving us with a bare living room and two big dinners to host. But we rearranged our remaining furniture and D put together a temporary coffee table with a $6 Ikea top and some metal legs from Home Depot and everything worked out fine. We made sure everyone had a cranberry margarita the second they walked in the door and I think that really took the focus off the stacks of books all over our living room.

P.S. - Cranberry margarita recipe will be up tomorrow. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

16 comments:

  1. Congrats on the apartment! How exciting.

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  2. I love your blog. You are so articulate and your taste is lovely. I've been following your posts for a couple of years, but never commented, and it seems like the time of year to do so. Thank you, Rachel!

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  3. congratulations! That's exciting news! and love this idea of this tradition.

    Can you share some of what the pre-dessert games are please? im a firm believer in some Christmas day trivia or the like. a bit of fun. :)

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    1. We like to keep it fairly low key, especially if we have non-game lovers in the group, so we played telephone-pictionary . It's low pressure and really funny. One advantage is that everyone can stay in their seats, which is good if you don't have a huge living room!

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  4. I did this my articles club yesterday, too! Despite a huge (huge!) turkey meatball failure and a mis-timing of when we'd eat (sigh) - it was great fun.

    I keep trying to think of alternatives for the friends thanksgiving---I don't particular like Friendsgiving or Fakesgiving, but Pre-giving, that one is a maybe....now I've been playing around on thesaurus.com...gracegiving? Could I incorporate sobremesa? Or the word commensal? Sigh.

    Congrats on the new place! Hopefully it suits you both well! :)

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I normally pride myself on having the Thanksgiving timing DOWN, but I was off by nearly a full hour this year. Whoops.

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  5. Congratulations on the apartment and I'm looking forward to the cranberry margarita recipe tomorrow! Happy Thanksgiving ♥

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  6. congrats on the apartment! very excited for you and can't wait to hear about it.
    we have a friend who has a pre-thanksgiving party every year called drinksgiving, more of a big blowout, which is also fun in a different way.

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  7. Love the simple table settings.

    What are the green things next to the cheese spread?

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    1. They are the "Inner Peas" from Trader Joe's. I think they are crunchy baked peas in the shell. So good! We wanted really light snacks to go with the cocktails, just to tide people over in case dinner ran late (which it did this year).

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    2. Thanks! I was trying to figure out if they were dry snow peas or something similar. That's a great accompaniment with the cheese, I should keep that in mind next time.

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  8. Such a beautiful Friendsgiving!!! You're an amazing host and EVERYTHING (cranberry margaritas, turkey, rolls, stuffing, pumpkin pie....) was incredible. Love you guys! xoxo

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  9. YAY FOR AN APARTMENT!!!! I'm also so jealous of your pre-giving. Every year. It's the best idea ever.

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  10. What a lovely meal! I'm on the hunt for china for my wedding registry and yours is gorgeous - what kind is it? Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Lauren! It's Wedgwood Gilded Weave pattern by Vera Wang. I am really, really happy with it.

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