Ah Thanksgiving. Perhaps the very best of the American holidays. No television pitches, no Hallmark greeting cards, no gifts. Just family, friends, and good food. And being thankful of course (Why can't we do this more often?)
We always celebrate Thanksgiving, even though we live in Morocco. This year, we had a group of 20 friends, guests, and friends of friends together in the Peacock Pavilions dining tent.
When we sat down at the table we all said in turn what we were thankful for. Thanks ranged widely -- from being alive, to our parents, to friends who felt like family, to blessings for the countries where we were born, to living in a place of peace, to our very first full year open at Peacock Pavilions (ahem yes, that last one was mine). There were a few tears of the good variety.
As befitting such a nice occasion to be thankful, I tried to make it all look a little special.
There was simple food. And somehow it was beautiful all on its own.
And I brought out all my pottery platters from Tamgroute Morocco. Such a lovely green.
There were olive branches on the table and porcelain pods that Caroline Douglas made for Peacock Pavilions.
We stenciled placemats on kraft paper, using stencils from Royal Design Studio. This is a trick we learned from former lovely intern Sarah Winward. I had our dinner napkins at Peacock Pavilions embroidered with peacock feathers.
The children's table had unbreakable copper goblets that I bought in India and glimmery chargers that I commissioned for Peacock Pavilions. Salt and peper was loaded up in porcelain leaves that Caroline Douglas made for me.
Our olive trees were heavy with olives which made me think that even the pilgrims would have been pleased. I hung them from our raffia lanterns so it would feel like we were dining under an olive canopy.
And it all looked something like this.
Happy Thanksgiving whether you are in America or anywhere else. In a world filled with uncertainty, we -- you and me -- are the lucky ones.
