Thanksgiving - Belle Antiquarian

Thanksgiving Breakfast Ideas: Easy and Delicious

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In just a few days, friends and families will gather around tables to eat Thanksgiving dinner together. We prepare the traditional recipes, and sometimes venture to try new ones. With all of the focus on the main event, breakfast on Thanksgiving Day can feel like a burdensome afterthought. There’s far too much hustle and bustle to make sure dinner is perfect to wake up and stress about breakfast as well.

Today I am sharing our Thanksgiving breakfast table. One thing that I love about our historic home is that each space has a dedicated purpose. Our breakfast room is where we eat most of our meals, play games, and work on puzzles. The trend in modern houses has been to do away with formal dining spaces, but our family has always enjoyed both formal and casual dining spaces in every home we’ve had. I set the dining room table for Thanksgiving dinner a week ahead of time, and we still had a space to eat in the breakfast room.

For Thanksgiving breakfast we’ll have pumpkin muffins (recipe below) and egg strata (found in a cook book HERE). We’ll all eat as we wake up and feel hungry for breakfast. Some of us will be getting up early to cook, and some will be enjoying the well-deserved opportunity to sleep in.

I’ve set the breakfast table with a mixture of new and collected items. I’ve been enjoying this cotton tablecloth throughout the fall, and it’s a vibrant and warm backdrop to my vintage Thanksgiving plates. I’ve linked sources to everything in my LTK shop.

I’d love to know what you serve your family for breakfast on Thanksgiving. Please leave a comment and let me know.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Abby | Belle Antiquarian

The Best Pumpkin Muffins

Moist muffins filled with all of the same flavors as your favorite pumpkin pie.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 24

Servings: 12 muffins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
2 eggs, room temperature
1 15-oz can pumpkin puree, or 1 ¾ cups lightly packed fresh pureed pumpkin
½ cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp molasses, optional

Equipment

1 Muffin tin
Muffin liners
1 Large Bowl for the dry ingredients
1 Medium Bowl for the wet ingredients
1 Whisk or spatula
1 Ice Cream Scoop to make diving batter easier
Toothpicks to test if done

Method

Preheat the oven to 375* and line a muffin pan with 12 liners.
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, whisk, and set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients until well combined and smooth.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir together until well incorporated, but do not over mix.
Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups. They will almost be full.
Bake for 22-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Cooking times can vary. Check at 20 minutes.)

Notes

Equipment: Use a standard 12-cup muffin tin lined with paper liners for easy cleanup. A large mixing bowl and medium bowl make the process simple, and an ice cream scoop helps divide the batter evenly for perfectly sized muffins every time.
Storage: Keep muffins covered at room temperature for up to 3 days, or refrigerate for up to a week. Reheat briefly in the microwave or toaster oven to bring back their just-baked flavor.
Freezer Friendly: Once cooled, freeze muffins in a single layer on a tray, then transfer to a freezer-safe bag or container. Thaw at room temperature or warm gently before serving.
Add-Ins: Fold in ½ cup of chopped pecans, chocolate chips, or dried cranberries for extra flavor and texture.
Serving Tip: These muffins pair beautifully with coffee, tea, or a touch of cinnamon butter.
Pro Tip: A sturdy muffin pan, vintage-inspired mixing bowls, and a quality ice cream scoop make this recipe both simple and stylish to prepare.

November 22, 2024March 16, 2026

Abby Smolarsky1 Comment

Thanksgiving in Our New Historic Home

Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away, and this will be our first year celebrating in our “new” historic home. I want to give a house update and share our Thanksgiving table with you.

We’ve been working hard to settle in and make our house feel like home. All of the moving boxes have been unpacked. Many of them had been in storage for four years, and thankfully we’ve only had two items broken. Our kitchen renovation is finished, and we’ve restored the flooring in several rooms. We’ve restored many of the original iron railings, and the rest will have to wait for warmer weather this spring. Outside, we’ve planted hundreds of perennials, including boxwoods, hydrangeas, and peonies, to name a few. If all goes well, there will be blooms throughout the yard from spring through summer next year.

We’re also researching the proper way to reglaze our original, working, sixteen pane windows. We’ll start the slow process of reglazing them when weather turns warmer. This is considered a maintenance task, and if we do it correctly, it won’t need to be done again for decades.

As we’re nearly the holiday season, we’re also preparing to host out-of-town guests. Several guest spaces have been completed to make them comfortable during their stay. Unfortunately, a custom sofa that we ordered in September still hasn’t arrived, which is creating stress as Thanksgiving draws near.

In spite of the lack of living room seating, there is a place for everyone at the dining room table. We’ll treasure the times spent with our friends and loved ones this season. We will be gathered around the table to enjoy delicious food and each others company. I’ve included a few photos of our Thanksgiving table this year. You will notice that there is a Christmas tree up in the dining room. There are a few reasons for this, which I can talk about in a future article, but let’s just say the turkey still tastes the same with the tree up!

To find the sources for everything I used to set our Thanksgiving table, you can visit this post in my LTK shop.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 12, 2024March 16, 2026

Abby Smolarsky2 Comments

Thanksgiving Table Inspiration

We’re just over two weeks away from Thanksgiving, and I would like to share some Thanksgiving table ideas with you.

Setting a Thanksgiving table doesn’t have to be expensive. As always, you can click any of the photos in this post to find the exact items pictured in my LTK shop. However, if you’re on a budget, you can use these photos to get inspiration for a color scheme. Try finding pieces to use in basic colors that can be used in multiple ways throughout the year.

First, this tablescape with rich colors and decadent textures creates a warm ambiance for your Thanksgiving feast.

Thanksgiving Table Ideas — Click the photo above to find these exact pieces.

Next, basic elements are pulled together to create a warm, casual feeling.

Finally, a timeless blue and white color scheme makes for an elegant, fun holiday tablescape.

Above all, I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with love and peace with the people you hold dear.

Until next time, Abby

November 8, 2022June 6, 2026

Abby SmolarskyLeave a comment

2020 Round Up Thanksgiving Table Options

If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen several Tabletop Tuesday posts with place settings that I was considering for our Thanksgiving Table. In this blog post I am putting them all in one place.

The place setting above is using a vintage Fire King milk glass swirl plate with a gold rim. Layered on top of it is a Pottery Barn tidbit plate. The napkin is also vintage. The charger is from Home Goods. I only have 4 of the chargers, but would really love to have 4 more!

The plate above is probably my favorite Johnson Brothers pattern, “His Majesty.” My set is vintage, but it is still in production today and can be found easily.

This is another Johnson Brothers pattern, “Historic America, Thanksgiving Frozen Up.” This set is circa 1930 (brown multicolor) and is no longer in production.

You guessed it, another Johnson Brothers pattern, “Hearts and Flowers” which some people mistakenly refer to as “Old Ironstone Granite” because that is also stamped on the back. This is the one set of china that I have the complete service for – everything from gravy boat and butter dish to covered vegetable and coffee service. We didn’t have wedding china that I registered for, so I consider it my wedding china due to the lovely couple on the front. This was produced in the 1970s and 80s and is no longer in production.

Above is another Pottery Barn plate layered on top of vintage Churchill Blue Willow. Churchill still produces Blue Willow.

And last but not least, above is another Churchill pattern from their fox hunt series, this is “Country Life, The Meet.” This is from a reproduction set made in the 1990s and is no longer in production today.

Happy, happy Thanksgiving friends. I am thankful for YOU! Every time you read, like my blog posts, comment on them, follow me on Instagram, or pin one of my images you are helping to support small business in America! Thank you!

November 24, 2020June 6, 2026

Abby SmolarskyLeave a comment

2020 Thanksgiving Table

2020 has been a dark year in some ways, so I wanted to keep our Thanksgiving table on the lighter side with white accents and greenery. I think we can all say that although this has been a tough year, and one that we’ll never forget, it has also made us very aware of the small things we can be thankful for every day. Things that we take for granted like being able to buy whatever groceries we want or see our loved ones whenever we want.

Plate: Johnson Brothers “Historic America: Thanksgiving Frozen Up”, circa 1930. (Yes, we are actually going to eat on them!)

You may have seen me using these hyacinth placemats before, especially if you follow me on Instagram. But they are currently my favorites. I like the natural material and the neutral color. The only new things on our Thanksgiving table are the tablecloth (TJ Maxx, $12.99) and the faux eucalyptus garland (Target, Hearth & Home). Well, obviously the pumpkins are from this year (used them for Halloween on our porch) and the chrysanthemum are also fresh. But I already had everything else, even the giant pinecones, which I have used previously in Christmas decor.

This year I will be cooking our meal as I always do. Our son, Jackson, will be home from college, and it will just be the four of us together that day. We are not promised tomorrow, nor are our parents or grandparents. If you have the opportunity to gather with extended family this Thanksgiving, I hope you do not shy away from doing so.

I am still trying to think of something for our family to do together after our Thanksgiving meal. Our tradition for many years has been to go see a movie in the theater together. The theaters around us are either closed or have gone out of business. I am mourning the loss of that tradition a little bit, but I am just happy that we are all healthy and generally happy. I truly hope that next year I can look back on this post and things will have reopened and returned to normal.

In closing, I am truly thankful for each of you reading this post, saving it to Pinterest, or sharing it elsewhere online. You are helping to support my small business, and I am truly grateful for you. (More photos below.)

Abby

November 17, 2020June 6, 2026

Abby Smolarsky1 Comment

Buffalo Check Table Settings

I am excited to share today’s blog post! Hobby Lobby has some really cute black and white buffalo check decor for fall. However, I want to show you that it’s not just for fall! The table runner and napkins that I picked up can actually be used for a lot of different themes and seasons. Here is a picture of how I used the black and white buffalo check decor for Halloween, but it can also be used with September Sunflowers, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Now here’s the really exciting part: I am giving away a table runner, set of 4 napkins, a garland of black and white wooden beads, and a garland of orange and white wooden beads. Find out how to enter at the bottom of this post!

Here are my black and white buffalo check table runner and napkins on our table for Halloween. The black and white are easy to mix with Halloween decorations. If Halloween is a busy night for you with trick-or-treaters, just pick up some basic orange paper plates to go with these, and clean up will be a snap.

Several other people have done a fantastic job of setting their tables with black and white buffalo check decor. I want to share a few of theirs with you so that you can see how versatile this pattern is.

First up is this sunflower table setting with buffalo checks from Driven by Decor. To me, this table setting is perfect for that time at the end of summer/beginning of fall when it’s still hot, but summer is over. Kris over on Driven by Decor did a beautiful job showing that fall decor can be more than just pumpkins!

Here’s an example from My Creative Happy on how you can use black and white buffalo check for Thanksgiving. She paired it with touches of brass, which brings up a great point. You can pair it with golden or silver tones, wood or metal. This pattern is very versatile to your tastes.

And for the fourth look today, here is a Christmas table setting using black and white buffalo check. This one is from Make a Joyful Home, and Tammy uses red accents with hers. But you could totally add green, or just silver, and it would still look Christmas-y.

Now for the exciting part! Here is a picture of what you can win: a table runner, a set of 4 napkins, a garland of black and white wooden beads, and a garland of orange and white wooden beads. To enter, simply hop on over to my Instagram, follow me on Instagram, like the contest post with the same picture as below, and tag a friend in the comments. Contest ends on Friday, September 13, 2019. You must live in the continental US to win.

Good luck!

September 6, 2019June 6, 2026

Abby SmolarskyLeave a comment

Setting my Thanksgiving Table

I had a few minutes this morning before the rest of the house woke up. (Turning off all of the alarm clocks for Thanksgiving break is such a decadent feeling.) I decided to play around with some Thanksgiving plates to get a couple of different looks.

On Thanksgiving Day I’ll use my table runner (from World Market) and some chargers. I haven’t decided yet, but I might not use a table cloth this year. But for the photo’s sake and just having fun, I used this plaid blanket I have. Our blankets are usually on this antique ladder, and we just grab one for watching TV or standing in front of the coffee pot waiting for it to brew. 🙂

The pillow and the blanket on the top are from TJ Maxx/Homegoods. The bottom two blankets are vintage Pendleton blankets.

First I used my Johnson Brothers His Majesty plates for this look:

And my chargers are from where else? Homegoods!

Next I used my Johnson Brothers Hearts and Flowers plates for this look:

I know these aren’t traditional Thanksgiving plates, but the couple on them has always reminded me of Pilgrims.

I love how navy blue looks with gold. It’s one of my favorite color combos. I didn’t have time to get these napkins monogrammed, but I think they’ll look great with a traditional script “S” on them.

Lastly, just to show how much one detail can change the whole look, here are the same plates as above, but with a gold napkin instead of navy:

I like it better with the navy, but either would be fine!

Note: These are my personal plates, but I collected quite too much of the Johnson Brothers Hearts and Flowers collection over the years.

Remember to use what you like. Maybe what you like is not washing dishes – so use Chinet! It’s about the food, the conversation, and the memories, anyway. This just happens to be something I enjoy doing. Any time we’ve spent Thanksgiving with family and friends, I am just happy to be there. Don’t worry about everything being perfect for your guests.

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November 19, 2017June 6, 2026

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Thanksgiving Music Playlist

Just a quick post to share some of my favorite songs to play on Thanksgiving.

This is an old graphic. A lot more songs have been added to both the Apple and Spotify versions of this playlist.

Just a quick post to share some of my favorite songs to play on Thanksgiving. We’re in Georgia, so Georgia on My Mind was included. I like the Michael Buble version. It’s easily swapped with a song about your favorite state.

Do you have some favorite “Thanksgiving” songs that sound similar to these? I prefer this vibe to some jumpier ones while I’m cooking, eating, or talking around the table.

Here’s a link to the playlist on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/thanksgiving/pl.u-9N9L2ydT75EVaX

November 6, 2017June 6, 2026

Abby SmolarskyLeave a comment

Thanksgiving Dinnerware Patterns

Only one holiday comes to mind that is almost entirely centered around the dining table and food: Thanksgiving.

Food is important in all of the holidays we celebrate, but other activities such as church services, gifts, egg hunts, or fireworks also take center stage. But when it’s time for Thanksgiving it’s all about the food. And therefore, I have a love of Thanksgiving plates that the food is placed on.

There are many vintage china patterns with Thanksgiving or turkey patterns that I admire, but there are some new ones, too. Here are a few of my favorites that I’d like to share with you.

photo from Replacements.com

These plates called His Majesty by Johnson Brothers, England were produced from 1955 – 1983, but reintroduced in 2004. Johnson Brothers seems to have caught on that America loves to put a turkey themed pattern on their Thanksgiving table. They have produced many patterns featuring the bird of the day.

photo from Replacements.com

This Thanksgiving scene in red transferware is very handsome! It’s called Bountiful Harvest by Homer Laughlin.

photo from Replacements.com

This pattern, called Thanksgiving by Spode, is elegant and formal.

Blue and white transferware is very popular, but also quite timeless. This is Blue Turkey by Wedgwood.

Available at Williams Sonoma this year are the Plymouth Turkey and Plymouth Pumpkin patterns, which are very pretty!

The Plymouth Pumpkin plates from Williams Sonoma could be displayed for the entire fall season from Halloween to Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving dinnerware pattern? I love discovering new vintage patterns that I’ve never seen before, especially when they’re mixed and matched. Please share yours with me.

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November 4, 2017June 6, 2026

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Blue: An Unexpected Fall Color

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Typically we think of fall colors as orange, red, yellow, brown, and gold. Combining these colors in our decorating or wardrobe will create a really nice autumnal palette. But what about blue?

Most people don’t mention blue as a favorite fall color. But when we take a closer look, we can see that blue is actually a very pleasant choice for fall.

When two colors are directly across from each other on the color wheel, we call them complimentary. Notice how Christmas colors red and green are complimentary colors. No wonder we like to see them together. Now, take a look at orange. Its complimentary color is blue. We like it. Our minds find complimentary colors to be pleasing.

The key to using blue is using a shade that matches the brightness and intensity of the orange you are using. For example, burnt orange with dusty blue, teal with tangerine, or navy blue with pumpkin orange. If you aren’t sure which blue to use with which orange, you can find very detailed color wheels on the internet. You can even buy one at an art supply store.

It’s okay to change things up a bit and use orange with blue. This is your official permission slip to do so. Just because big box stores haven’t caught onto this fabulous color combo, doesn’t mean that you can’t go ahead and use it in your home or wardrobe this fall. Here are just a few examples of why I think blue is a wonderful addition to fall: