A Thanksgiving Centerpiece for your Dining Room

You can do what I did, which is buy an empty cornucopia centerpiece and fill it with whatever suits for you fancy for your current Thanksgiving celebration. I usually choose Autumn leaves and dried flowers because I live in Maine, and I think that this is our most beautiful season. It looks great on my dining room table from late September through late November. Once I bought the cornucopia, I really didn't have any more decorating expenses. I could also fill it up with fruits, grapes and pumpkins. I also think that this is similar to what they did at that first Thanksgiving dinner at Plimouth Plantation. But quite frankly, unless people walk by and grab a piece those items just spoil. Fresh fruit is quite expensive.

I think a cornucopia really speaks to the Thanksgiving celebration and our tradition of giving thanks for either the harvest or what we have in our lives. Many family has a strong tradition of farming - even today - so we truly are thankful for our harvest and the cash crops that pay many of our bills.

But as you can see to the right, many Holiday artists have designed ceramic and other types of cornucopia for you to display on your table. I think these are quite lovely and just as easy!

A honeycomb turkey centerpiece is perfect for the kids' table - or as well call it in my huge family - the cousins table. It got to be a joke that we were all 16 and still sitting at the kids' table. Since I spent so much time there when I was growing up, I always make sure that that table is just as beautiful as the grown up table. But it has to be tested to destruction. Let's face it, you put so many kids in one place, for more than 15 minutes - well, stuff happens. So I have my plastic Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers and cardboard and honeycomb turkeys for centerpieces. Both indestructible or cheap, so it doesn't matter how long they last. While I use linen tablecloths for the grown-up tables, I use a Thanksgiving vinyl tablecloth with for the kids.

Like I say I spent a lot of years there and I know the hijinks and practical jokes that go on there, especially when the kids get older to be creative in their mischief. With this combination of Thanksgiving decorations, I don't fear flying turkeys - cardboard and honeycomb won't hurt anything in my house!

I mostly use my Thanksgiving centerpiece to set the Autumn mood in the days prior to the big Turkey Day. The way we cook and eat in my family, there's no room for anything that isn't holding food or used to directly eat it.

But I do love the way the house looks. The Autumn colors make it so warm and cozy. A big ceramic turkey centerpiece certainly looks wonderful on the table. Some of these are actually a fruit bowl. So that I can put apples on the table or kitchen counter and people know that they aren't eating part of my Thanksgiving decor. Other ceramic turkeys are designed as planters. So you can actually take a living flower such as a golden mum and place it on your table. I think these kinds of centerpieces also look great beside the fireplace.

It's particularly fun though to find ceramic Turkeys that serve food. So I love my Mother's ceramic Turkey casserole dish. If Thanksgiving dinner isn't at her house, you can bet on the Turkey casserole dish arriving with her secret recipe stuffing. That turkey does get a place right in the center of the table. Because it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without that stuffing!

Here are some tips to make your own Thanksgiving Centerpiece. Even if you don't have a huge yard or garden, you can take a walk in a local park or state forest. No one will really care if you pick up pine boughs or leaves that have fallen on the ground. It's amazing the items you can find blowing around in the wind. Of course it is bad form to pick things off peoples' trees and in their garden. You can find gourds and other Autumn plants at the local garden center or even grocery store these days.