A Designer Free Thanksgiving

For those of us in the design industry, the holidays can mean more than just the pressure to create good food. It also means the pressure to create a tablescape that’s cover worthy, #worthy, instagram/pinterest worthy, portfolio worthy. I know I feel it. Even though I’m not taking on design clients and sharing my designs with the world, every year I take pictures of my table. That way next year I can see what I have to beat for this year’s design. A design that’s a little more beautiful, a little more resourceful, a little bit more unique, a little bit more show-stopping.

It Doesn’t Have to be a Designer Thanksgiving

But, this Thanksgiving, let’s give ourselves a pass. We know that beauty and design create a large part of the holiday experience. But perfection isn’t necessary for that to happen. And it’s certainly not necessary to share your holiday with the world if you just aren’t feeling it. Holidays aren’t for the world to share with you anyways. It’s that moment in life where you hunker down with the people that you love the most. Where you shut off the world and say, I’m totally here. With you. All day.

And what a refreshing thing to do. So let’s all do that. And not worry about being designers for one day. Don’t worry about impressing. Don’t worry about the gold tones on your chargers and candlesticks being different, or that your color palette isn’t more inventive than orange and brown, or that you use Chinet plates and Dixie cups instead of heirloom China that you searched the entire Earth for. It is just family after all. Not the Queen of England. 

The Hostess with the Mostest, is the Hostess Without the Scowl

It’s much better to be a happy hostess, than to be an exhausted one who was up till 3 ‘am pressing pats of butter with a faux wood grain butter stamp. For one day, you’re not a designer, you’re just one of the fam. And that’s a great thing.

So go and do what matters most. Eat as much carb heavy, cream overloaded, sleep until Saturday food as you want, watch as much boring football as you want, and spend all the time in the world with the people you adore and who adore you. And take a much needed break from producing perfection.