I’ve always loved entertaining.

When I married my husband—who happened to be the second oldest of eleven children—I quickly became the unofficial hostess for family gatherings. Most of his siblings lived nearby, so birthdays, holidays, and “just because” dinners often meant preparing for 25 or more people.

If you could peek inside the metal cupboards in my basement, you’d see the remnants of those years: neatly stacked dishes in multiple sets, glassware for every type of beverage, and shelves lined with serving pieces collected over time. I’ve never been a paper-plate kind of hostess. And wine, in my opinion, deserves to be poured into something beautiful…