Rustic Thanksgiving at the Beach

Welcome to my imaginary rustic beach house where we will be hosting Thanksgiving this year. It's warmish here at the beach, so we're planning a Thanksgiving outside.

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I raided the yard and lopped off the tops of some ornamental grasses that I have, cut some flowers and some various vegetation, and created a casual, rustic centerpiece for my Thanksgiving table. The burlap runner and fabric underneath aren't even finished ... we are talking about comfortable, casual, quaint Thanksgiving.

It's all about the details, so I dressed down the wine bottles by wrapping the label in twine and placing some fresh nuts and some candles on a nearby side table for some ambiance.

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For my place setting I chose more of nature's offerings ... each one of these leaves were selected by my real children in my imaginary scenario. Rustic is simple. That's the charm of it.

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Our Thanksgiving menu is quasi-traditional: a nod to the traditional meal with a bit of flair thrown in.

Here are the recipes:

Cornish Hens with Morels and Leeks
Roasted Garlic and Basil Mashed Potatoes
Thyme Butter Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Apple Glazed Baby Carrots
Streusel Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Crunch Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I'll probably be wearing something like this:

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And after the meal, we plan to walk on the beach and create these Thanksgiving memories:

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And maybe even get our Christmas card photo, because we are on the ball like that. We are in the final countdown, folks! Are you ready?

~Natalee