What we reach for in December, unconsciously, is green and living, because everything else has gone brown and dormant and the living green is the proof that something endures.

The aspiration, if there is one for the Thanksgiving table, is not a table that looks like anywhere else.

What a beautiful table actually requires is attention to a handful of structural principles and a willingness to work with what the season is offering — which in spring is, frankly, quite a lot.