Graduating From the Kiddie Table
by Traci O'Dea
The season of enormous feasts has officially commenced. Canadian Thanksgiving just passed; American Thanksgiving is this month. After that begin the work parties and open houses and seasonal celebrations of Christmas, Chanukah and New Year’s.
I plan on swimming and running twice as much this holiday season because I’m certainly not going to say no to an invitation to dinner nor am I going to say no to seconds or dessert.
During the holidays on the island, an intimate family meal for six can easily turn into dinner for twelve because there’s always that co-worker who doesn’t have anywhere to go or those out-of-town visitors who decided to escape the cold weather at the last minute. My family has always had an open-door policy during the holidays, and I remember one Thanksgiving when I served twenty-five guests in my dining room that comfortably sat eight from a kitchen that barely fit two.
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Photo by Traci O'Dea
I’ve tried to explain traditional American Thanksgiving to my non-American friends, but they don’t get it. “We do a big roast like that for our Christmas dinner,” they say. Well, so do we, but this isn’t Christmas. There’s no religious affiliation or presents. It’s just time to chill and eat with family and friends and be thankful. Or, “It just sounds like you stuff yourselves and watch football.” Stuff ourselves, yes, to the point of discomfort. Watch football, no, not in my family. We used to watch The Wizard of Oz, but now we usually end up playing Pictionary or Taboo. After that we make human pyramids and take photos. Okay, so my Thanksgiving might not be exactly like everyone else’s in the States, but the point is that it’s a day about breaking bread and sitting around the dining room table and laughing and drinking too much wine. And graduating from the kiddie table.
Progressing from the kiddie table—which is typically a folding card table set with the everyday plates and plastic cups—is a big deal because that means sitting at the fancy table—the table that typically only gets used for holidays and special occasions, and Thanksgiving is the pinnacle of dining-related special occasions, when all the good stuff comes out—fine linen tablecloths, napkins with napkin rings, crystal wine and water glasses, sterling silver flatware, bone china plates and bowls, and tapered candles providing the main light source beneath a dimmed chandelier.
Arawak Interiors offers everything you need for the fancy table—from tables and chairs to napkin rings to candelabras to wineglasses to table linens. They also carry less delicate stuff—plastic cups, play-with-your-food plates and toy-shaped utensils for for those who haven’t graduated from the kiddie table yet.
