Borrowed Daughters and Thanksgiving Tables
Dear Mom, How Do I Host - A Series on Love, Lessons and Hosting
There are days when someone else’s child feels a little bit like your own, and today was one of them. My heart is still full in that deep, quiet way that sneaks up on you—full enough that “full” feels like an understatement.
Cassidy Hayes, who runs social media for The Truitt House, spends enough time here that she knows the creaks of the floors and the rhythm of my days. We’ve become real friends—despite the fact that she once looked me dead in the eye and admitted she didn’t know who Eddie Murphy is. (There are generational gaps, and then there are continental divides. We laughed.)
But what we do share is a genuine love for making people happy. And that was the thread running through today.
Cassidy and her sister, Courtney, are hosting their very first Thanksgiving dinner this year. So we climbed the back stairs to the dish room—a sort of lending library for dinnerware and daydreams—and pulled pieces that would make their table feel special. That’s what these collections are for: not to sit pretty on a shelf, but to go out into the world and help create moments worth remembering.
She picked a beautiful Juliska pattern, complete with a matching tureen to anchor the table. Then came chargers, napkins, glasses—the whole lot—chosen with that thoughtful excitement you only see when someone is picturing the people they love gathered around a table they’re creating.
We walked out to the garden and clipped the seasonal staples: magnolia leaves, cedar, glossy camellia foliage, even a few oranges for pomanders. Back at the counter we wired cloves, tucked in dried fruit, and talked through the basics of hosting as we built an arrangement together. Nothing fancy. Just the comfortable, companionable kind of work that feels like a lesson and a memory at the same time.
For a little while today, I got to be “Dear Mom” for Cassidy—answering her questions about Thanksgiving and watching her confidence take shape right alongside the centerpiece. She and Courtney are going to make something beautiful for their family this year, the kind of gathering they’ll talk about for years.
And I’m grateful to have had even the smallest part in the inspiration.
A note of gratitude and the best of Thanksgiving wishes to Cassidy Hayes, @ThriveMarketingVa
Thanksgiving Centerpiece
Listen While You Cook and Serve
Music sets the pace for a dinner — it’s the undercurrent that keeps everything moving without anyone even realizing it. I think about it the same way I think about setting a table: you want layers, warmth, and just enough surprise to make people stay a little longer.
For this playlist, I picked songs that sound the way fall feels — a little jazz, a few instrumentals, and those easy, familiar voices that drift right into conversation. Nothing that takes over, just the kind of background that makes the room feel cozy and alive.
And honestly, if I had to choose, the way a space feels — the light, the music, the mood — matters more to me than what’s on the plate. The food is important, of course, but it’s the atmosphere that people remember. They might forget the menu, but they’ll remember how it felt to be there — the laughter, the glow of the candles, the sense that the night didn’t need to end just yet.
It’s music for when you want time to slow down a little — the kind that quietly holds everything together.
