So I woke up about 4 this morning – did not get up, mind you – but woke up to this conversation with myself. Self, I said, I have good news and bad news. The good news is Thanksgiving is here. You are sort of organized. You’ve done the place cards and are rather pleased with them if you do say so yourself, with apologies to René Magritte...

The bad news is Thanksgiving is here and there is still to decorate this Temple of Dendur that you now call home, with apologies to architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen… The next time I speak to Mr. Jacobsen I’m going to ask him if, when he designed this house at Rancho La Zaca, he thought about decorating it for Thanksgiving.

The good news is I have a carload of flowers and $45 worth of pumpkins I picked up at Dale’s Nursery and Summerset Farm stand down the road… Dale also sells olive trees, www.amazingolivetrees.com, and you can find Dale’s Nursery on Facebook.

His Grace pointed out that in New York $45 might get you two small pumpkins. The day after Halloween. But believe me in southern California $45 goes a long way in the pumpkin department – more good news.

The bad news is I have no idea what I’m going to do with them. No. Idea. I reckon I could start by getting them out of the car.

Good news is I’ve shipped out here my vintage Johnson Brothers Windsor Ware plates, which I love, in the Harvest and Wild Turkeys patterns, filling in with a few from eBay and from Replacements, Ltd., which is a wonderful resource.

So it is now about 5 and time to get up and figure out what the heck I’m doing.

And then I say, Self, you know what, it’s hydrangeas, not heart surgery. It’ll be all right. The point is your family and friends are coming, 7,000 of them (okay 28), and you’ll all have a grand time and that’s what everybody cares about – not the place cards, pumpkins, flowers, and plates. So you might as well relax…

I’m so glad we had this little talk. I feel much better. There is much to be thankful for.

Hey readers – what are y’all doing? Do you have  a go-to TG decorating scheme? I’d love to hear. Can I call you? Could you come by for a few minutes this afternoon… You’ve got your hands full, I know. Don’t worry about me and the pumpkins… we’ll be fine… really…