Bice's Florist

Bice's Florist

Posted by Bice's Florist on November 10, 2015 | Last Updated: October 2, 2020 Holidays Thanksgiving

Decorating Your Thanksgiving Table With the Warmth of Seasonal Centerpieces

We may be in the throes of fall, according to the lunar calendar, but in Fort Worth, like most of Texas, there is no such thing as typical seasonal weather. It isn’t too early to think about Thanksgiving. When it comes to holidays that revolve around food, we all know that everything is bigger in Texas.

If you’re like us, you probably have you family’s Thanksgiving dinner traditions that have been passed down through the generations hoping to keep those rituals alive. Our experienced Bice’s Florist team of floral designers is eager to help you bring the warmth of the season into your home with autumnal flower arrangements and centerpieces.

We decided to reflect on the origins of Thanksgiving, and how historians explain the circumstances that led to the all-important first harvest celebration for the earliest colonial settlers.

The story began in Plymouth, England in September of 1620 when 102 people who referred to themselves as religious separatists, boarded the Mayflower, a small sailing ship, to begin their rough journey to the New World. The captain intended to sail to the point at which the mouth of the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean. The vessel veered off course, and after 66-days at sea, the ship arrived at the eastern tip of Cape Cod.

The group of soon-to-be settlers spent a month on the Cape before sailing across Massachusetts bay and docking at the now-famous historic site known as Plymouth Rock. We know that the journey began in England in September. After 66 days at sea, they likely got to Cape Cod in November. That means that the colonists didn’t get to Plymouth until December.

By December, winter weather prevented them from building homes or doing much else. Most of the passengers stayed on the ship all winter. When spring finally arrived, half of the passengers who boarded the boat in England had died. The remaining colonists didn’t know how to live in a place where they had to build, grow and raise the things they needed for survival.

Thanks to a chance encounter with an English-speaking Abenaki Indian, the religious separatists were introduced to Squanto, another English-speaking Indian, who belonged to the Pawtuxet tribe. He taught them how to grow corn, fish and gather edible plants in the wild.

By the fall of 1621, the colonists were harvesting the fruits of their first successful crop planting. That prompted Colony Governor, William Bradford, decided to have a celebratory feast. He invited Squanto and members of the Wampanoag Indian tribe and their chief. Historians consider that harvest celebration the first Thanksgiving observance in the country’s history.

Wow your guests with a spectacularly unique centerpiece. Our Fall Fantasy arrangement consists of hydrangeas, pin cushion protea, lilies, and roses. We add hypericum berries for accent and fill the rectangular vase with pebbles and curly willow. The final touch is a piece of curly willow that arches over the top of the container.