The Time of Great Feasts is here! Welcome to the first day of Thanksgiving Week! It’s a wonderful day, if you haven’t started already, to inventory your gear to help keep the Happy Day as joyous, calm, and stress-free as possible. Let’s go through your storage and consider what’s what and what might need to be done.
LINENS
Do you have a tablecloth for each dining table? Do you know where they are? Find them and check for unexpected spots or wrinkles. There’s still time for laundering, ironing, and repairing. Are there napkins, both for dinner and for that long period beforehand that’s anything from snack time to the cocktail hour? If you’re using cloth napkins, check for flaws and iron when needed. If you’re using paper, make sure you have enough for everyone and buy what you’re missing. (Etiquetteer has written about cloth vs. paper napkins before.)
CHINA and Glass
Moving to the china cupboard, do you have enough dinner plates and dessert plates for each person? Check for nicks or breakage, and also have a stack of extra plates handy for unexpected arrivals. (On Thanksgiving it’s awkward to turn anyone away.) Look over your water goblets and wineglasses (and any others you may need) for nick, cracks and spots. You still have time to make them sparkle.
SILVER
Emily Post Herself used to say “Use silver that shines or none at all.” This was not an excuse to Use Disposable Instead! Do you have enough silverware for each person?* Do you have all the serving pieces you need: platters, trays, utensils? Check each piece for spots and tarnish; there’s still time for polishing.
FOR THE TABLETOP
Do you know what your centerpiece(s) will be? Are those items near at hand? Have you checked the good salt and pepper shakers to be sure they’re filled and that the salt hasn’t caked solid since last year? Are all your sauceboats and bread baskets and butter dishes and the special dish you use for cranberry sauce clean and ready to go?
Etiquetteer made this survey last night, and there are some challenges to take care of now. Most everything is in Perfectly Proper condition, but the cork stoppers in the salt and pepper shakers are wedged solid; I must find a way to coax them out without breaking the corks. Conversely, I cannot seem to fit tapers into a large brass candelabra firmly enough that one or two don’t fall out. Recent discovery of a set of large damask napkins is going to require some dedicated ironing.
But, in the words of the late Belle Poitrine, “The answer to the challenge is always yes!” It’s easier to give that answer, though, when there’s time enough for a Perfectly Proper response. Etiquetteer wishes you well as your preparations continue.
*For a buffet, one dinner knife and fork, and one dessert fork and spoon per person should do. For a seated dinner, you may need more, depending on the menu and style of service.