What Santa Brought

I believe my family has taken note of my interest in tablescaping, as I received some lovely gifts to support my habit!  In my previous post, I featured the sparkly placemats and wonderful napkin ring/flower holders from my daughter.  Here's another look at the napkin rings:

My son, husband, and mother gave me tablescaping books -- a total of five new sources of inspiration!

I look forward to spending time enjoying the wonderful photos and reading the tips from the experts!  I am linking to Marty's Anything Goes Table Top Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life, so be sure to check out the other links there! 

Christmas 2010

I hope everyone is having a lovely and relaxing day-after-Christmas!  I plan to sit with my feet up all afternoon, if I can get away with it. We had a wonderful couple of days with our family.

Our daughter and her family arrived Christmas Eve morning, and our son flew in that afternoon.  My father-in-law joined us that evening for dinner.  Here are a few photos of the table I set for that meal.

I've had the plaid tablecloth for years.  I really like the emerald green glasses with it -- they first belonged to my husband's grandparents, then his parents, and now they've been passed down to us.  I believe they were originally a grocery store premium, but they have a lovely shape and wonderful color. The pattern is called both Inspiration and Burple, from what I've read about them.

I used my Christmas china, Dansk Winterfest, again for this table.  I have napkins that match the tablecloth, but they get lost in a sea of plaid, so I used some white ones tied with red and green cording. You can also see the tree-shaped placecard holders I featured in an earlier post.  My granddaughter wrote our names on the placecards when she arrived.

The centerpiece is almost the same as the one in my last tablescape, with the addition of some fresh greenery and some glittery green ornaments. 

Here's a view with the candles lit.

My adorable grandchildren posed for the obligatory Christmas pajamas photo before going to bed that night.

The men of the Dull and the Dutiful family opened matching shirts on Christmas Eve, which they wore on Christmas Day. From the left, my father-in-law, my husband, our son, and our son-in-law.

The grandchildren also dressed festively for Christmas Day.

My wonderful daughter gave me some gorgeous placemats and napkin rings for Christmas, so I quickly incorporated them into our table for Christmas dinner..

The centerpiece was simple -- just evergreens with white mums and green hypericum berries in a glass and silver bowl.

The new placemats are sparkly silver with ruffly edges, and the clear acrylic napkin holders have a small opening to hold flowers or other small items. I used more of the white mums and greenery for this table, and I'm looking forward to using these special holders on many tables in 2011!

Here's a look at the placesetting, with my wedding china, silver, and crystal. 

Here's another look at the table.

And here is my family, all waiting for pie after the meal!  We were blessed to have four generations around our table this year.  Clockwise from left are my father-in-law, our daughter, our grandson, our son-in-law, my husband, our granddaughter, and our soon-to-be-married son.  The wedding is now just a few days away!

Thank you for visiting! I hope you'll leave me a comment before you go!

White Christmas

Kathleen of Cuisine Kathleen is hosting a White Christmas/Winter White party this week, so I did my best to set a table with only off-white, silver, and greenery.  If you've visited any of my tablescapes before, you know that I really like a lot of color, but this was a good challenge for me.  Be sure to visit Kathleen this week to see other White Christmas participants' tables!

I started with a textured pale ecru tablecloth and my Lenox Windsong, which has a subtle pattern and a platinum rim, and my silver, Lunt Belvedere.

To complete the setting, I added the matching napkins, tied with a sheer silver ribbon, and my crystal, Lenox Moonspun, a pattern several others in the tablescaping tribe also have.  I know that Debbie of Words on Wheels, Laurie of Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie, and Sue at I Need Mom! all  have Moonspun.  I'd love to know if any others have it!

Each placesetting also includes a sparkly silver tree as a placecard holder.  Here's a closeup of one of them. I also have them in sparkly green.  I think I bought them at Fifth Season in Little Rock a few years ago.

For a simple centerpiece, I started with a pretty silver sandwich tray that belonged to my in-laws and added three cream pillar candles, clippings cut from the bottom of our Christmas tree, and some silver ornaments. Here's a bird's eye view.

The sandwich tray has very unusual claw feet!  I like this shot with the spiral shadow from one of the placecard holders.

Here's a view of the whole table, set for six.  I'll expand the table for Christmas, when we'll have eight family members -- and four generations -- around the table.

In this view, you can see the sideboard, with the blue and silver that I'm using in the dining room this year.  My son is getting married soon after Christmas, on our 38th wedding anniversary, and the wedding colors are blue and silver.  "Presbyterian hymnal blue," to be specific!  That's the color the bridesmaids will be wearing, so they'll coordinate with the hymnals in our church!

For the first time, I was able to capture some "blue hour" photos of the table, with the candles lit and Christmas tree lights glowing.

The slim tree also belonged to my in-laws, and my father-in-law was pleased to see it in our front window this year.  It is also decorated with blue and silver ornaments and ribbon.  Our larger tree is in the living room, but it's fun to have one in the dining room this year.

Finally, here's the host's view by candlelight.

Thank you for visiting my table this week!  I am also linking to Susan's Between Naps on the Porch, so be sure to check out other tablescapes there starting Wednesday night!

Dansk Winterfest

For this week's Tablescape Thursday at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch, I'm featuring my everyday Christmas dishes, Dansk Winterfest, which we use throughout the holidays.  I found these dishes at a wonderful Dansk outlet that used to be in the French Quarter in New Orleans.  I was so disappointed when I discovered it had closed!  The table is set in the breakfast room today.

 Here's a look at the placesetting.  I was drawn to the pattern because it includes blue, my favorite color, and because of its casual, modern look.

Here's a bit closer look at the pattern.

And here's the "rim shot."

 The pattern also includes glasses and mugs.  I'm using only the glasses for this table.

A few years after I bought the dishes and glasses, I found the matching candleholders at an outlet near Princeton, NJ, while visiting my daughter and son-in-law.

The simple centerpiece also includes a rustic wooden tree from Pier 1 several years ago.

Here's one last look at the table.

Finally, here's a closer look at the baker's rack, decorated for the season.

Thank you for visiting my table this week!  I hope you will leave a comment before you check out the rest of the tablescapes set for this Tablescape Thursday at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch!

Thanksgiving Tables

I've been out of town this week, so didn't have time to set a table for Tablescape Thursday.  Instead, I'm posting some photos from past Thanksgivings, before I joined the tablescaping tribe.  I didn't take many pictures of my tables back then, so this won't take long!

This table is from 2007, when there were just three around the table -- my husband, my son, and me.

This was a super-simple centerpiece -- a glass bowl with yellow apples anchoring yellow-striped alstroemeria and hypericum berries.  I've had the tapestry runner for years.

The placesetting included my wedding china, crystal, and silver, and I dressed up the napkins a bit with a sheer ribbon and sprig of faux berries.

This was last year's table.  We had eight around the table, with my father-in-law and my daughter's family joining us.  The centerpiece is again a simple one -- my favorite kind!  I used two types of mums and hypericum berries in a silver-and-glass piece from my in-laws' collection.

I used my grandmother's wedding china, Admiral by Heinrich H&C, and I set the dinner plates on gold pottery plates from Pottery Barn to highlight the gold in the design.  The embroidered linens were also my grandmother's.  I do not look forward to ironing that tablecloth this year!

In this view, you can also see the small silver bowls holding Seckel pears, which I found in a large container at Sam's.  They are so little and cute -- not to mention tasty!

You can see more of the pears in a glass bowl on the sideboard, which held dishes we needed for dessert.  Salad plates allowed us to try more than one dessert!

 And, finally, here's one more super-simple fall centerpiece idea.  The wooden candleholders are from the Pottery Barn outlet in San Marcos.  I hope to get back down there soon!

Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for visiting my table this week!  I hope you will leave a comment before you leave to visit all the wonderful tablescapes at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch!