Happy to Host

Too young. Lives in a studio apartment. Not married. Lives in Colorado. Can’t cook. Has conflicting obligations with in-laws. These are just a few of the spoken reasons that I have never been asked to host a major holiday for the Foley family, but I am also guessing there might be a few unspoken ones: Do not want to break tradition. Lives in Cincinnati. Does not own a pilgrim costume. And does not have a dining room table.

However, this is the year – after 18 years of already being an adult – I was granted my first attempt at hosting Thanksgiving. We are taking a break from tradition – mostly so my mom can get a break from her all day kitchen duties – so I consider this a trial run or a temporary hiatus from a ritual. And I am pretty sure the elders in the family will be meeting weeks later to assess the event and determine if I passed or failed or something in between.

I still don’t have the appropriate table and china hutch, but that might be in my favor as I can rent three eight-foot long tables and stretch them out between my unfurnished dining and living room. The seating options are actually endless, but I did feel the need to do a bit of “staging” to ensure my guests were not dining next to the Little People Garage or staring at scuffed up and crayon covered walls. So like any HGTV show suggests, I put on a fresh coat of paint, eliminated all items that do not speak to the true purpose of the room (i.e. removed all toys from the dining room and properly organized them in the basement), added window treatments and put up a very generic, yet tasteful piece of wall art. Wish I could say I emulated Design on Dime, but it was money well spent and hosting this holiday was just the motivation we needed to take the first (and small) steps in our toy room transformation project that we have been putting off for years.

Andy, of course, is taking on all the real thanksgiving responsibilities (turkey, stuffing and his creative sweet potato gnocchi), so all that is left for me to do now is to set the table (I am breaking out the china!), make some of my signature appetizers (Tastefully Simple dips anyone?) and organize my wine (ensuring the $12 bottles are the first to be consumed and then we can move on to the Yellow Tail later in the night). Cheers and wish me luck!