Sharing the harvest

We had some friends over Saturday night to share the apple harvest.  I wish we could set these things up about a week ahead in order to get all the pretty party shots, but truth be told, I was running around arranging and setting up Saturday and the photography was catch as catch can.

Maybe that's the difference between a real party and a Pinterest photo shoot?

I love using the old crate my daughters picked up for me as a gift. A few clippings from the garden and some votives make a pretty display that just gets prettier as night falls.

 I set up a table for the coffee and home made cider.  Here it is before the carafes full of coffee came out. We froze some large cider ice cubes in small Tupperware containers to keep the cider cold and it worked very well. The sun was shining and the temps were in the low 70's so cold cider was appropriate.

 Did I mention the cider was home made? We would love to find a cider press for a reasonable amount, Earl actually saw one at a garage sale for $50 a few years ago and unthinking he passed it up.  He has lived with deep regret ever since, so the search for another deal like that continues.

I pulled out a large round tray that I found at a garage sale for 50 cents and filled it with oak leaves and those beautiful crabapples from the tree growing wild in our woods.  You can see in the photo above I also cut some branches from the tree, and Earl found some bittersweet and smaller crabapples that I stuck in a rustic old crock I had. The matching mugs come from the dollar store and we pull them out whenever we have a large crowd.  I feel it is often easier to entertain a lot of friends than it is to try to have a lot of small parties throughout the year, so when we have a party we invite everyone! 

I grabbed a photo of some of the guests enjoying the chili, cornbread, cider and apple pie. Earl manned a table making hot, fresh donuts using simple canned biscuits rolled in cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar, and our youngest guests raced around the yard exploring and playing games. Now that our own kids are all grown up it is so lovely to see and hear little ones playing in the yard again. 

I meant to get a photo of the food table but never got around to it. Once the party starts it's time to put down the camera and enjoy my guests! More guests arrived after this picture was taken.

 It was such a relaxing evening, sitting around the blazing fire with a simple meal, a great group of friends and some hot coffee and pie!  We laughed and talked well into the evening and the night was perfect!

How was your weekend?