In just a few short weeks my family, having much to be thankful for, will be sitting around our dining room table enjoying a delicious feast for Thanksgiving dinner. My three grown children, not having families of their own yet, don't fully understand all the planning and preparation that must go into producing a fabulous turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

If you're like me, each year you want your guests to be "wow-ed" by your culinary creativity. And, if you're like me, you need a little help with that creativity. As I thought about some ways to make this creative process a bit more fun this year one idea kept coming back to me...I could host a Thanksgiving Dinner Planning Tea! I could invite a few of my more "culinary gifted" friends to come for tea and ask them to bring along their favorite Thanksgiving recipes along with any new ones they're thinking of trying. After we have a relaxing pot of pumpkin cream tea and some pumpkin scones, share a few laughs along with a few words of appreciation for each other, we could then share our recipes and new ideas helping each other to create fabulous Thanksgiving menus and memories for each of our families. We could make our shopping lists and determine our preparation time lines. In the process we could determine if there were any unusual, once a year type ingredients that we could share and we could brainstorm ideas for centerpieces, table settings and conversation topics. We could share our traditions with each other and maybe adopt a few from each other to share with our families to keep things "fresh".

I think making the time for this fall tea would be fun and a relaxing way to plan with my friends (and/or family members), at the onset of what can be a very hectic, busy  season,  the details for one of the most important celebrations of the year...Thanksgiving.

Kathleen Ellis

Kathleen Ellis Lifestyle Design

www.kathleenellis.blogspot.com

keedesign@aol.com