Holidays 2017: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving napkins

I have decided to do a blog series detailing my holidays starting with an inside look at my friends and family Thanksgiving and ending with my plans for next years Christmas. I know it’s a bit after the fact and may feel either irrelevant at the moment, or too soon to even be thinking about it, but because I took a bit of a blog break over the holiday season I wasn’t able to share this with you then. I guess I’m going with the better late than never narrative and hope you’ll agree!

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. I’m a fan of the abundance of delicious, comforting, heartwarming food. The gathering of friends and family around a table laden with said food. The cozy early darkness of late November that begs for hours spent in front a roaring fire, wine in one hand, book in the other. Not that there’s much time for that when you’ve decided to host the season’s festivities but I’ll get to that in a minute. It also happens to fall within a week of my and Naleigh’s birthday every year. Sometimes it is one of our birthdays. Last year it was mine, this year it was hers. Such proximity to my day of celebration has always guaranteed me an amazing meal and a table full of friends and family, something I’m trying to teach Naleigh to love about sharing her birthday with a major holiday. Family, friends and food is my all time favorite way to celebrate being alive! This year I decided I desperately wanted to host the festivities at my house. An energetic passion for table settings, warming side dishes and heritage turkeys took hold of me and would not be denied. I also received a Thanksgiving meal plan from Food and Wine in my inbox late October and it helped me see how manageable hosting the day could be with the right amount of preparation and planning. It ended up being absolutely perfect. Seriously…perfect…but it was not without a few mishaps, a healthy dose of anxiety and a day after spent cleaning up and crying. So, with out further ado, here are all the glorious and gory details!

Thanksgiving dinner plates and settings

What really started my hosting ball rolling were all the inspiring table settings on Instagram. It was a month of pure eye candy for those of us who love dishes, glasses, linens and cutlery. I built up a Pinterest page full of even more inspiration and honed in on a particular color palette and style I loved. Mixed metals of silver, rose and gold with a sophisticated farm vibe was the theme I kept gravitating towards. Once I knew that was the direction I was headed I went about inventorying what I already had and making a list of what I needed, I’m sorry, I mean wanted. There really wasn’t a damn thing I needed if I’m being honest. There was however, a lot I wanted and it’s been years since I treated my self to any new dishware so I figured now was the time. I found gorgeous pink depression glass salad plates and decided they would look perfect set on top of my Kate Spade dinner plates. Her Pebble Point and Corona Grove patterns are what I chose for my wedding china and I still love them 10 years later. With their silver accents they pair up beautifully with just about anything if I’m looking for a less structured vibe. I found fantastic rose gold flatware on Etsy but sadly the shop is no longer selling it so I can’t provide you with  a link, but it was a real find and totally perfect for my table. If it weren’t hand wash recommended I’d use it everyday but there is a level of crazy even I will not entertain. I already had sparkly silver chargers that fit the theme perfectly and looked stunning under the Kate Spade dinner dishes, these are similar. I went with pale pink stemless glasses for water and my grandmother’s cut crystal wine glasses for, well, wine. I bought a simple linen table runner, “Thankful” embroidered linen napkins from Crate and Barrel which are no longer on the site, sorry, gold napkin rings which are also no longer available but these are similar, vintage brass candlesticks, a eucalyptus garland, silver, cream and white gourds and a couple of artichokes to round it all out. All in all I was absolutely thrilled with my table. So thrilled I set it up at least four days in advance, okay maybe five, just so I could admire it for awhile. I dusted it all off before serving, don’t be concerned! At least not about that, maybe for my sanity however.

Thanksgiving dinner plates and settings
Thanksgiving glasses
Thanksgiving dinner plates and settings
Thanksgiving table

Now the food, ahhhh the food! I had some help with this thank the lord, but Josh and I agreed to take on the turkey. Something we had never done before and frankly I was pretty nervous about it. Hence the anxiety I spoke of earlier. I’m an animal advocate and though my foundation has not yet taken on the farm animals in this country and focuses mainly on companion animals I still try to do my small part by only buying free range, grass fed, hormone free, humanly raised, wild caught meat, poultry or fish. Try saying that three times fast. Anyway, I found these Heritage Turkeys and bought two a month in advance and had them shipped the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The only problem was they came fresh but could not stay in the fridge for five days. So I had to freeze them on Sunday the day after they arrived. Then I made the mistake of not taking them out of the freezer until Tuesday night. Sooooo…they were still pretty solid in the middle come Wednesday night and in a total state of panic I feared they would not be thawed enough to fry or roast Thursday afternoon. Thankfully, (see what I did there) we were able to get a giant, and I mean giant free range, organic turkey from Whole Foods Thursday morning. One of the heritage turkeys was finally defrosted enough to fry later in the day and it turned out perfect thanks to Josh Kelley’s fry master skills. The Whole Foods turkey I decided to roast which had me sweating! Remember the scene in Christmas Family Vacation when Chevy Chase cuts into the Turkey and it disintegrates? Well that was playing on a loop in my head the entire time leading up to pulling the turkey out of the oven. By some combination of grace and the perfect recipe it turned out heavenly. Golden and crispy on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside. It was a Thanksgiving miracle! Once the other heritage turkey was defrosted we fried it up too and ate turkey for like two weeks straight! But damn was it delicious! The lesson here is, even if you only put the bird in the freezer for a day and a half, get it out Monday night so you can be sure it’s fully defrosted by Thursday morning!

Josh Kelley preparing the Thanksgiving turkey
Thanksgiving turkey
Josh Kelley preparing the Thanksgiving turkey

For the side dishes I was in charge of I used an old cookbook my mother gave to me about three years ago. It’s called Cold Weather Cooking by Sarah Leah Chase and it’s perfect for all those cozy, comforting dishes I spoke of earlier. From the cook book I chose grand mariner glazed carrots, rutabagas anna, Nantucket cranberry relish and cranberry oatmeal cookies. I threw in our family’s favorite mashed potatoes (you gotta have something to drink up all that gravy right?) I also added an extra rutabaga dish, a puree we’ve had every Thanksgiving since I was like five. I wanted to try a new rutabaga dish but was afraid I’d miss the old one too much so I threw it in last minute. It’s really pretty easy to make so it wasn’t much extra trouble. There were many more sides and desserts than just these thanks to the help of my mother, mother in law and our friends who joined us. It truly was an abundance of delicious food!

Thanksgiving food
Carrots and rutabaga (swede)
Thanksgiving food
Katherine Heigl preparing Thanksgiving dinner
Katherine Heigl preparing Thanksgiving dinner
Thanksgiving turkey
Thanksgiving turkey
Thanksgiving 2017
Sweet potato casserole
My girlfriend Tasia brought the most delicious sweet potato casserole. It really isn't Thanksgiving without it!
Bread rolls
She also brought the best rolls you'll ever have in your life and the only thing I ever want her to give me for my birthday. I still haven't been able to pry the recipe outta her!
Carrots
The carrots turned out great and were beautiful to boot. I used heirloom carrots instead of just the traditional orange ones.
Rutabaga puree
I also made our family favorite rutabaga puree. A mixture of carrots, rutabagas, heavy cream, salt and butter. I followed a Martha Stewart recipe for this one.
Little man was a big fan of his first taste of turkey!
Little man was a big fan of his first taste of turkey!
Giving said turkey the royal treatment!
Giving said turkey the royal treatment!

This year was probably one of my all time favorite Thanksgiving celebrations. Between the company, the food, the birthday of my first born, the beauty of the table and the gratitude pouring forth from all of us with ease and joy it really could not have been more perfect. The next day however, well, that’s where the tears come in. Like I said, this year my birthday fell on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I had big plans to do nothing more than chill in front of the TV all day in my jammies watching all my favorite romantic comedies and eating a giant plate of better the next day leftovers. Unfortunately I had forgotten to anticipate the wreckage left behind in my kitchen and living room from the day before and sadly I am not one of those people who can just live with the mess. I spent hours on Friday hand washing dishes that could not be placed in the dishwasher, drying said dishes and carefully putting them away till the next party or holiday. Cleaning up cookware, platters, and casseroles. Putting away any food that had been left out and doing a final clean and sweep of the counters, dining table and bar. It was not exactly what I had in mind for my birthday and once it was all done I felt exhausted, burnt out and kinda sad. It took me a day or two to get over feeling like I had worked my ass off to ensure everyone else had a special and meaningful holiday but my feeling special wasn’t anybodies priority. Then I stopped wallowing in self pity and realized it was my own fault. I had made a major mistake. I didn’t ask anyone for more help with the clean up on Friday. I did that thing we women are so great at doing. I call it the “I’ve got it, I’ve got it” syndrome. We run around like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off convinced we’ve “Got it” and that it’s our jobs to do so. Meanwhile the people around us get tired of asking if we need or want any help and go off to rest with their feet up. We witness said resting and bury every feeling of frustration and fury that wells up inside of us until we have a nice, big, compact ball of resentment lodged in our throats just waiting to burst forth. Needless to say it’s an unhealthy cycle, but I’m learning people, I’m learning. Next year Naleigh’s birthday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, mine is Saturday and neither one of us will be doing any damn dishes!!

Stay tuned for next weeks look at my Christmas decor and the inspiration behind it. XOXO, KT

Nancy Heigl and Tasia Steffensen
Thanksgiving food and table
Miss Adalaide toasting the day with sparkling cider
Miss Adalaide toasting the day with sparkling cider, which by the way our friends brought and was the perfect thing to make the kids feel included in the toasts.
Katherine Heigl and daughter Naleigh
Naleigh and Adalaide share a hug
Naleigh's birthday cake
My mother made Naleigh's birthday cake and joked that it looked like a unicorn threw up on it!
Naleigh's birthday cake
It was supposed to look like melted crayons...which I think it totally does! The best part was that it was delicious!
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26 Comments

  • Jade Lilly

    It is absolutely NEVER too early to start planning for next year. I have a huge list of gifts I want to crochet and I started hooking immediately after Christmas. My aim is to enjoy the process and not feel so rushed and pressured come December.

    Enjoyed reading this lovely post. May be a little late also, but a happy New year to you and your Family. ♡

    January 12, 2018 at 1:06 pm Reply
  • Micki Butler

    Your holiday celebrations looked lovely! You should really take a bow! You have inspired me to make a meal like thst next year….as grand and as beautiful as yours was. I live in magical Ireland. I am so happy your holiday was so wonderful. I have admired you for years. I watch “Love Comes Softly” often, and my border collie Molly loves it too. As soon as she hears the music to the movie, she eagerly awaits for the movie to start.
    Have a blessed year, and it is wonderful to share your life through your blog.

    January 12, 2018 at 2:32 pm Reply
  • Cassandra Stewart

    Love your pink china and glasses. Looks like a lovely dinner, thank you for sharing!

    January 12, 2018 at 2:42 pm Reply
  • Lisa W. In Victoria, BC Canada

    Thank you for sharing in such an honest and humorous way. I always enjoy reading your posts as you have a desire AND flair for making everything beautiful that you touch! Your passion for your family is apparent and I truly appreciate that you take time to share your life with your followers. Your comment on the “compact ball of resentment” made me laugh as I can relate!

    January 12, 2018 at 2:51 pm Reply
  • Glory

    I love this blog so much! You are so fresh and real. Thanksgiving is also my favorite holiday and my birthday also falls on the holiday some years too!! I have a big family and regardless of who’s hosting we all help, including the cleanup. As they say many hands make light work! So don’t ever feel bad about soliciting clean up help! You deserve it! Nice to have you back. How is your puppy doing? I hope better.

    January 12, 2018 at 3:51 pm Reply
  • michelle

    First, my sentiments EXACTLY about the wonderful feelings of family, friends, and food – the perfect triumvirate to an awesome gathering!!! And, your table looks amazing!! (My family of all men do not understand my NEED for “setting” the table in a particular manner, but they always acquiesce and enjoy the gathering – probably more the food!!!) You have me laughing about the defrosting … always something to manage, but never an insurmountable obstacle when faced with reinforcements! With regard to the cleanup … well, perhaps it’s just something that goes back to serving wenches!! hahaha … Happy Belated Birthday!

    January 12, 2018 at 4:22 pm Reply
  • michelle

    First, my sentiments EXACTLY about the wonderful feelings of family, friends, and food – the perfect triumvirate to an awesome gathering!!! And, your table looks amazing!! (My family of all men do not understand my NEED for “setting” the table in a particular manner, but they always acquiesce and enjoy the gathering – probably more the food!!!) You have me laughing about the defrosting … always something to manage, but never an insurmountable obstacle when faced with reinforcements! With regard to the cleanup … well, perhaps it’s just something that goes back to some crazy part of our brain and serving wenches doing the work!! hahaha … Happy Belated Birthday!

    January 12, 2018 at 4:26 pm Reply
  • Geralyn Starrantino

    Your Thanksgiving table looked wonderful. Glad you decided to share with us after the holiday has ended. I too have Kate Spade dishes, Rutherford Circle Turquoise, and pare it with depression glass. Your decor is a lovely inspiration and glad the Turkey’s turned out successful! Looking forward to the rest of the holiday blog…as I am a newcomer here on your blog, and love it !!!

    January 12, 2018 at 5:17 pm Reply
  • Carolanne Kilichowski

    Happy belated birthday Kathrine!!! You do inspire me so very much! I am older but always
    learning to do better. I always buy a fresh turkey for Thanksgiving because the others are not as juicy and not as tasty. My son-in-law is the cook for holidays (lucky me) so I buy the turkey, make a
    nice chef salad and sometimes make fresh cranberry sauce. So you see, I get off pretty easy.
    I also love Thanksgiving because it reminds us to be thankful to God for all of our many blessings.
    Do you ever do talk shows? Would love to see you on the Ellen show or some other venue.
    You are a beautiful lady inside and out! I always pray the God watches over you and your family and keeps blessing you abundantly. BTW, I bought a few of Josh’s albums and love them. Maybe you should get him on Ellen too? People are not aware of this great talent. He needs to be out there.
    Love you and God bless! Carolanne Kilichowski, Hamburg, NY

    January 12, 2018 at 5:24 pm Reply
  • Carolanne Kilichowski

    I wrote all this stuff to you and now it does not seem to have stayed and I lost it all. Let’s see if I can do it again. You inspire me very much Katherine. Thanks for sharing your heart and interests.
    I pray for you and your family always that God will bless you abundantly. I would like to see you and Josh on the Ellen show. He needs to be out there more as people need to see that man for his wonderful singing talent. You would be great on Ellen also. Would love to see you there. l always buy a fresh turkey. It is tastier and juicier . My son-law-cooks so I get off easy just buying the turkey and making fresh cranberry sauce and making a nice chef salad. How can I get a signed picture of you and Josh? I am an avid autograph collector but only of may favorite people. God bless and Thank you so much for all your inspiration.

    January 12, 2018 at 5:31 pm Reply
  • Christine Bello

    Love everything about this post! Beautiful table setting and I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the actual table is!
    Can you share where you bought it?

    January 12, 2018 at 6:56 pm Reply
  • jillian

    Beautiful table…I set one of the tables, sometimes all three…every month with a theme because I love looking at them. Ha ha and have to dust them off too. Your children are just beautiful. All the pink is pretty for valentines as well. Looking forward to the Christmas post, it’s nice to look at now since December can be overwhelming after awhile.

    January 12, 2018 at 7:57 pm Reply
  • jillian

    P.S. Please tell us about your dining room chairs…love how spacious they look with a farm table, just what I am looking for.

    January 12, 2018 at 8:00 pm Reply
  • Jackie Roisler

    Your table settings were/are gorgeous! The colors, the way the light shines through the glass, tableware color + style visually breathtaking; your garland visually awesome and the lovely smell it probably emitted makes me deeply breathe in at the thought.
    And your “I got it” paragraph had my eyes well up, your description of your feeling can be mine, too.
    Thank you for your sharing, so very special.
    Blessings to you.

    January 12, 2018 at 9:06 pm Reply
  • Caroline

    Those look a lot like the wine glasses my aunt has. Scroll down on my blog page and you’ll see them. http://www.carolinemcollinsphotography.org/2017/12/10/10-on-10-december/

    January 12, 2018 at 10:37 pm Reply
  • Caroline

    I forgot to say I’m really enjoying your blog. You explain everything really well and I love the pictures.

    January 12, 2018 at 10:38 pm Reply
  • Jude

    Love this post. Yes- the “ive got it” syndrome is so real. I hope the rest of your holiday was a bit more chill- love, a fellow moper and dishwasher.

    January 12, 2018 at 10:45 pm Reply
  • Elizabeth Andrews

    Love this! This might be a silly question, but I’ve always wondered where the food is placed. Do you move the centerpieces or place the food elsewhere?

    January 13, 2018 at 12:59 am Reply
  • Barbara Ciabatti

    Your table looked amazing! I also love having my family and friends over for celebrations, listening to them all talking over one another and laughing and having in-depth conversations about stuff! Makes me feel very content and happy with my life. I am also that person who says “it’s ok I’ll clean later” then I am up till all hours complaining to myself while I clean! I enjoy your blog and seeing all the wonderful things you do! Your pictures and details are great and easy to understand. Looking forward to the rest of your holiday blog!

    January 13, 2018 at 1:10 am Reply
  • Tash

    Absolutely loved every little detail of your celebration! Such a huge inspiration!

    Thank you for being honest and sharing your feelings on your birthday. I think we, ladies, have been there too often and sometimes can’t admit we really need to make an effort to ask for help or let others to help.

    Love your blog! Looking forward to post about Christmas! xoxo

    January 13, 2018 at 2:31 am Reply
  • Donna Engman

    I think everything looked wonderful ! I luv your family ! What a blessing to have a caring family. I truly think you are so humble for being an great actress and your husband is a perfect match for you ! Thank you for sharing your life !

    January 13, 2018 at 1:00 pm Reply
  • Jannamarie

    Thank you for sharing 🙂

    January 13, 2018 at 4:57 pm Reply
  • Rachel

    Absolutely stunning! Your photos are gorgeous!

    January 15, 2018 at 3:08 pm Reply
  • Jennifer

    I love your blog. I too love to cook and craft and plan and my passion for crochet knows no bounds. I pride myself on my basement filled with plastic bins which hoard the most beautiful yarns! Thanksgiving is also my favorite holiday. Well, it was until I lost my Mom. I’ve had to really push myself to get back into the spirit of things. Mom was my best friend, (next to my hubby of 33 years), my biggest cheerleader and supporter of our only son, Dustin, who is 32 and living with Autism. She was such a light to me and I miss her every minute of every day. I have to tell you, my most favorite saying in the entire world is, “boys are stupid”. Thank you for sharing it with me. My husband is no longer offended when I say it, or yell it. He gets it now. I continue to watch Grey’s reruns with Dusty and we laugh a lot. We have a giant skeleton which sits in a rocker on our front porch at Halloween. It’s name is dead George. George now has a dog skeleton named Skipper. It makes Dusty laugh and laugh and that brings me joy. You mentioned working hard on your holiday and then crying….I have done the same so many times. Worked so hard that by the time you take a breath, the holiday is over and has passed you by. Let them help you, work side by side with your loved ones while you have them. Make messes with them, and let them help clean up. Your memories will be all the richer for it. <3

    January 15, 2018 at 5:07 pm Reply
  • Jennifer

    How rude of me! I forgot to say how much I enjoy your husbands music, and your children are beautiful and you love dogs like me. I have two german shepherds who basically run the house! Thanks so much for taking the time to bring me a little more joy through your blog.

    January 15, 2018 at 5:11 pm Reply
  • Jennifer

    Well that’s silly. My message above was meant to be an add on to a beautifully written message that took me some time to compose. It never posted…hmmm. Cockpit trouble, I suppose. Anyway, to summarize: I love your blog. Thank you for my favorite phrase, “boys are stupid”. I use it frequently and my husband of 34 years gets it and is no longer offended. I too loved Thanksgiving. I just survived my second without my Mom. I am learning to love it again, without my biggest cheerleader, second best friend, and biggest supporter of our 32 year old son, Dusty, who is autistic and the brightest light in my life. He and I sometimes watch Grey’s reruns while we have lunch….he loves it too. I call the cast “my people”. We have a giant skeleton that sits in a rocker on the porch at Halloween. His name is Dead George. He now has a doggie skeleton named Skipper. Sometimes we call the skeleton Dead Denny. Depends on how we feel that day I guess. We love dogs, have two giant German Shepherds, sisters named Riley and Sammi. They’re hilarious and bring us great joy. I am passionate about crochet and knitting and am very proud of my many giant plastic boxes of hoarded yarn in the basement. I do needlework, crafting, cooking, gardening, etc, just like you do. I’ve learned a few things since I’ve gotten older and since losing Mom. Set the holiday table your way. Be in charge of that one thing. Make it perfect. It makes you so happy, like me, to have just the right table. But that’s where it should end. Let your loved ones help you. Make messes together and clean them up together. Let them help with the dishes. Let them help you cook. Let your Mom hand you the glassware to put away while you stand on the chair to put them in the top cabinet. Doesn’t matter if you’re dressed up. Just spend the time. It all goes so fast. And the memories are funnier and more memorable than if you do it all yourself and end up crying because the holiday passed you by while you were working your ass off and you never thought to sit and take a moment to enjoy the season. (Talk about a run on, eh?) Anyway….thanks for your blog. It brings me joy, and my Dusty likes you.

    January 15, 2018 at 6:29 pm Reply
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