Setting a festive table can be the most, or least, enjoyable part of hosting the Thanksgiving gathering.

Some hostesses see the dining table as a blank canvas awaiting heirlooms of Damask, polished silver, sparkling crystal and china, while an expanse of naked tabletop puts others into a tailspin of anxiety.

For the nervous or uninspired, there are magazines galore with step-by-step how to's, covering every nuance from the under cloth to floral height and placecard placement.

Rarely, however, do these picture-perfect tablescapes include decorations made by children, an overlooked, creative force right under our feet or noses, as the age may be.

Kid-made table accents can infuse a stuffy, too-serious setting with character and charm.



"I made a new table decoration for our Thanksgiving dinner table last year. It was a turkey made with a big red apple, toothpicks, dark raisins, cloves and a stuffed olive. The apple was the body, the tail was fan-shaped, made of tooth picks covered with small dark raisins pushed down over them. The head was a large stuffed olive with a little of the red stuffing hanging out. Cloves were used for eyes. I made a raisin-covered toothpick neck and three colored tooth pick legs so he could stand up. My mother liked it and I hope you do too."

Little Phebe's concise instructions and clear illustration of the finished project mark this a child-friendly craft.

Envisioning Phebe's decorations as homey placecard holders for my own table, but lacking a youngster to enlist in the making, I made Phebe's turkeys myself.

Despite my upscale addition of golden raisins and a pear substitute, these turkeys are real turkeys.

What's missing is the additive of fun that children bring to a holiday table.

EllynAnne Geisel is the author of The Apron Book: Making, Wearing, and Sharing a Bit of Cloth and Comfort; Apronisms: Pocket Wisdom for Every Day; and The Kitchen Linens Book: Using, Sharing and Cherishing the Fabrics of Our Daily Lives, and creator of National Tie One On Day.

Aditional information about National Tie One On Day can be found on Geisel's web site, www.apronmemories.com.

Recognized by Chases Calendar of Events, National Tie One On Day™ is sponsored by Mom Bloggers Club, American Sewing Guild, The Women's Museum, McCall's Pattern Company, Stampington & Company, Aunt Martha's Colonial Patterns, Inc., Simplicity Pattern Company, National Association of Baby Boomer Women, Creative Machine Embroidery, SewNews, Apron-iCity and The Fabric Shop Network.