Thanksgiving Table Drama, Part Deux

We always start every holiday with champagne, and this year was no exception. M was holding onto a bottle of Grand Siecle 1999-2000 from Laurent Perrier made for the turn of the century celebrations, and I enjoyed immensely its fizzy deliciousness.

M loves a dramatic table as much as B, although their brands of drama are a little different. M also loves older pieces, but she loves antiques and has been collecting them since I was a baby. This whole new "layaway craze" they keep talking about in the news this season reminds me of my childhood when M used to put one or two pieces of sterling on layaway and we would visit the store every month to add a little chunk of the household money til each piece was paid off.

Now she has a stunning collection. And her holiday table always reflects her tenacity.

The water pitcher. We have been using this at holiday tables since before I was a teenager.

The gravy boat came along a little bit later, but I have eaten gravy for stuffing or the Christmas Yorkshire pudding for decades. Her tables always sparkles.


Look who came with us on this holiday journey? They behaved like angels in the car. We barely knew they were back there. In the background of this pic is the duck pond, and it took Jackson all of 10 minutes to show us his canine Michael Phelps in the pond. He loves a good swim.