Thanksgiving Photos from Our Employees

November 29, 2016

I always love seeing photos of our staff’s Thanksgiving Day celebrations.

Every year before Thanksgiving, I send a general email to our employees, extending my very best wishes for a safe and lovely holiday. I also urge them to take photos of their table settings, their feasts, their families and their friends - I love seeing how others celebrate these special occasions. And, every year, I am always thrilled to see the pictures and to read the many stories that accompany them. This year, I was especially eager to hear from those who used our Martha & Marley Spoon Thanksgiving meal boxes. Our new holiday meal kits were a big success. Did you order one this season? If so, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below.

Enjoy these photos. Tomorrow, I will share images from my Thanksgiving weekend.

: Special projects producer, Judy Morris, and her family enjoyed Thanksgiving at her brother’s home, not far from my Bedford, New York farm. This is the appetizer plank Judy’s niece, Emily, made – a “Good Thing” from this month’s issue of Living.

: This is the “kids” table – so pretty.

: Judy’s family enjoyed a spatchcocked turkey on the grill.

: And, all the delicious sides.

: Here is the dessert buffet.

: And here they are eating a great meal. If you look closely, you can see the “adults” table in the next room.

: All the kids posed for a quick portrait photo. From the back – Judy’s sons Eddie and Jimmy, their cousins, Brendan, Conor, Jimmy and Jay, Judy’s youngest son, Billy, and Judy’s niece, Emily.

: My property director, Mike Fiore, often takes his family to Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts, on Thanksgiving, to see how life was for the Pilgrims in the early 17th century. Here are his children, John, Alexandra and James. https://www.plimoth.org

: Plimoth Plantation is a living museum that presents visitors with two re-created settlements from the 1620s – a Native American Wampanoag homesite, and a village established by English colonists, who later became known as Pilgrims. Here, they saw how the poultry was prepared.

: The women roast directly over the pit. Here, this woman is cooking venison. The Wampanoag did not have set meal times – they snacked all day, whenever they got hungry.

: Cast iron pots are used to cook directly over the hearth.

: Mike’s daughter, Alexandra, posed with two of the interpreters.

: After their day trip, Mike and his family joined relatives for a traditional feast of their own. This is the turkey.

: Jaime Cassavechia from our corporate communications team sent this photo of her oldest son, Connor, and his cousin Neela, who helped set the Thanksgiving table. They dressed as Native Americans – a new tradition in their home now that there are grandkids. The entire family helped prepare the Martha & Marley Spoon Thanksgiving meal, and it was a big hit! “The roasted Brussels sprouts was the standout side dish.”

: Jason Schreiber, a chef from our test kitchen, sent in a beautiful photo of his apple pie. He added, “I figured with all the strife in the world this season, even our apple pie needed to show some love. Heirloom apples, vanilla bean, and caramel made from the juice of the macerated apples inside. I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family in New York.”

: Associate product manager, Samantha Perlman, submitted this photo of her Aunt Claire, who hosted the family gathering. Aunt Claire is holding a sculpted butter turkey!

: Samantha and her family had two types of stuffing – regular and gluten free.

: And this was their turkey. Samantha’s uncle Stephen, and co-host, roasted the turkey breast-side down, which is a tip they learned from reading our web site, marthastewart.com, on how to keep the white meat moist!

: Publicist, Liz Malone, spent Thanksgiving with her family in Boston, Massachusetts. Here they are from top left – her brother John, his fiancee Kelly, dad John, sister Caroline, mom Cathy and Liz.

: Liz explains that every year, the immediate family has a small brunch and during the meal, each person says three things for which they are thankful and puts them in the jar. Afterwards, they read the ones from previous years.

: Liz’s family then heads to Medfield, Massachusetts to meet up with 26 other family members. The only rule – no phones, and it’s a rule that is strictly enforced!

: All the phones are placed in a basket until after the feast.

: Associate holiday designer, Claire Basile, shared what was on the dinner table at her mom’s home – the turkey, twice baked potatoes (a favorite), sweet potato pie, and stuffed mushrooms.

: Claire shows her red wine poached pears that she tried for the first time, with mascarpone cheese. Claire says they were so sweet and good!

: This is the baked brie before it went into the oven.

: Every year, on “Black Friday”, Claire, her mom, and her aunt, go to The Home Depot to stock up on the wreaths on sale. Eventually, the wreaths are decorated with personal ribbons and ornaments.

: Claire also checks out the Martha Stewart Living Christmas products she helped design!

: Ellen Morrissey, our editorial director for special projects, and her husband, Colin, made this pie from the Martha & Marley Spoon Thanksgiving meal box. She says, “it was fantastic and I loved having all the ingredients measured and waiting for me when I arrived at our Thanksgiving destination Wednesday night.”

: Food editor and chef, Greg Lofts, had a very small Thanksgiving gathering at home this year and didn’t roast a turkey. But he did fashion a bouquet for the table from things growing in the backyard. It’s called ‘Backyard Bouquet’. Greg used “variegated and green holly, hydrangeas, and rose hips and arranged them in a wide, shallow bowl to keep the centerpiece below eye level. There’s nothing worse than a centerpiece that blocks sight lines at the dining table!”

: This photo is from holiday product designer, Tiffany Smalley. “Every year we honor the turkeys instead of eating them since we are vegan. We had a stuffed vegan roast and all the traditional sides – mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cauliflower au gratin, and more. We celebrated with family and friends and had a visit from a photographer from Long Island’s ‘Newsday’ who came to document our unique tradition.” Clockwise from left – Tiffany’s husband Nicholas, and Tiffany, friend Cassie, brother Anthony and his daughter, Juliette, Tiffany’s dad Chris at the head of the table, sister Ashley is on FaceTime on the shelf because she lives in Copenhagen, friends Dilan and Russell, Tiffany’s mom Nancy, and friend Chris at the end.

: Tiffany’s table included photos of turkeys they “adopted” from an animal sanctuary in upstate New York that have been rescued from factory farms. “We love animals and celebrate the holiday with kindness all around!”

: Everything on the menu is plant based. Here is the stuffed vegan roast.

: Adriana Weisberg from our housekeeping team received Martha & Marley Spoon boxes right on time for the holiday.

: Here were some of the ingredients for the sides – everything was so well packaged.

: And everything was provided – no extra trips to the grocery store.

: Adriana loved how easy it was to cook all the sides with the recipe cards. Here are the ingredients for the Brussels sprouts.

: Here’s the turkey before it went into the oven.

: And Adriana’s turkey after.

: Adriana also served Arroz con gandules – a combination of rice, pigeon peas and pork, cooked in the same pot with Puerto Rican-style sofrito. Arroz con gandules is part of Puerto Rico’s national dishes.

: Adriana also had potatoes and tamales.

: Plus, lots of stuffing and other dishes

: And here is the Martha & Marley Spoon pie as it was being prepared.

: Adriana’s apple pie is ready for the oven.

: Here’s the finished pie – beautiful golden brown.

: … a la mode!

: Martha Stewart Weddings design director, Michael McCormick, always has a lovely table. Here’s this year’s – “a little more non-traditional, but still pretty.”

: Senior fashion and market editor for Martha Stewart Weddings, Jessica King, shared this photo of her whole family – Jessica, Jamie, Sophie Bird, and Indigo.

: Jessica’s kids helped make the Apple Pie with Pate Brisee crust from our web site.

: Jessica’s daughters, Sophia Bird and Indigo, are all dressed up and ready to go.

: Senior designer, Akira Yoshimura, shares these snapshots of the delicious Martha & Marley Spoon Thanksgiving dinner enjoyed at a friend’s home. The entire group found the turkey and stuffing juicy and amazingly delicious. “The Brussels sprouts with pomegranate salad had great freshness and everyone loved it!”

: They all enjoyed the meal and found it to have a great balance of flavors. They had only one criticism – there were not enough leftovers.

: Merchandising marketing director, Rachel Stewart, describes her photos – “this is our table, all set for our Thanksgiving meal.”

: “Here is my husband, Jurrie, preparing drinks for our guests.”

: “And here’s my dad, Reynolds, cutting the bird as we started laying out the buffet.”

: “This is our dessert table after guests started digging in. Many of the desserts were traditional southern treats including lemon chiffon ice box pudding and the classic chocolate wafer ice box cake. We also had a pumpkin pie, German chocolate cake, a French pineapple cake (prepared by one of Jurrie’s French co-workers), and hazelnut brownies.”

: “This is our friend, Dan, who brought over a magnum of Veuve Clicquot champagne for all of our guests to enjoy.”

: Associate project manager, Blaze Pennington, celebrated Thanksgiving with her parents, two brothers and a sister. “My aunt and uncle also joined us in New Jersey for a delicious Thanksgiving meal.”

: Blaze says, “one of our favorite dishes was the roasted root vegetables, which included carrots, parsnips, leeks and three types of beets!”

: “Thanksgiving is the official start of the Christmas season, so the following day, I dressed my dog, Oliver, up as Santa in celebration!”

: Anduin Havens, our director of design, sent images of her beautiful pies. Tthis is the pumpkin pie.

: This is Anduin’s sour cream apple pie.

: And here’s a chocolate peanut butter pie.

: “We had a 21-pound turkey, a 10-pound ham, and a five-pound pork roast!”

: “The cocktail was a version of Thomas Joseph’s cider bourbon cocktail – I topped it with sparkling cider to add a little fizz – delicious!”

: Anduin spent the holiday in New York City – “we got to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade route early and the kids all bundled up.”

: Her favorite balloon is Hello Kitty!

: Martha Stewart Weddings special projects editor, Anthony Luscia, and his husband Rusty, spent the holiday with newly wed friends, Liz and Sarah, in Bellport, New York. They all enjoyed a wonderful feast. This was their turkey.

: They also had these fennel popovers along with other dishes such as southern broccoli casserole and dutch apple pie.

: Everyone cleaned their plates. Sarah just acquired the family’s heirloom Haviland china, so this holiday was even more special. @AnthonyLuscia

: Designer, Natalie Cooperman, says this photo tells it all. “My husband is the executive Chef at The Red Cat restaurant in New York City. On Thanksgiving, he cooked 217 turkeys and too many pounds of stuffing to count. My two-year old daughter, Ruby, and I joined him later that evening. After a long day of cooking for everyone else, he changed out of his chef’s jacket and sat down – our daughter scrambled onto his lap and asked him to color with her. I am so thankful for those that work on Thanksgiving and all holidays to make all the rest of us so comfortable.