Holidays at Joan's

I love entertaining my friends and family for holidays and birthdays. If there is a celebration – I’m always there to volunteer our home. I love sharing recipes, spending time with family, and opening up my home to my loved ones! For each holiday I make my now notorious OR famous (at least with my family) tablescapes for my dining room table and my kids table. We have a really large extended family so sometimes I am decorating 4 or 5 tables. I must admit I can’t wait for the door to see their faces. Everyone “oh’s” and “ah’s” when they walk in for 4th of July to a table adorned with American Flags, a patriotic arrangement of red roses mixed with white blossoms and blue delphinium in a cobalt blue vase, and red-white-and blue star confetti around the table.

I imagine Halloween would rank as the favorite for my children and the scarier I make it the better. It’s not enough to have pumpkins and ghosts, they want spider webs, eyeballs and cauldrons. And by the way, I can’t help myself, I dress up too! Then comes my favorite holiday Thanksgiving – not only is it a scrumptious meal, but it’s one of the most fun to decorate. Turkey day means chocolate turkeys and cornucopias filled with pine cones, seasonal fruits—pomegranates and persimmons and of course some colorful leaves to add an autumnal feel. The house always smells so fragrant from the cinnamon-candles and of course the day of cooking.

Everyone always asks where I find the time to do it all, little do they know I have a master plan that makes the magic quite easy! My strategy? I have a well-stocked pantry filled with holiday décor for every occasion, all in well-marked baskets and bins. I can pull out decorations for any holiday you can name on a moment’s notice. I never like to be stressed when my guests arrive so I always do my tables ahead of time. I look for a relaxed time a couple of days, or even a week before my guests are coming to plan my meal, get my decorations out and start setting up. This way, if I’m missing anything, I still have time to find it. And then of course when my guests arrive I’m cool, calm, and collected. As for the meal preparation, again I head to the pantry, get out all of my recipes, any ingredients, and anything I need to cook and serve and I lay it all out. That way, it is all ready and waiting for me when I get to my kitchen. I always find that the more I prepare and organize in advance, the more I can enjoy friends and family and not be stressed out when it’s time to entertain!