After canceling our Christmas Eve celebration with the family last year because of COVID-19, I was determined that this year's was going to be special. I never imagined that it would be this wonderful. This is going to be a long post, so get ready, you might want to go get a cup of coffee . . .
The first thing we did was prepare a Children's Table. My brother's six grandchildren were expected to come, and it had been year's since I had to prepare a special table for several little ones. This was going to be fun! I was warned not to use real dishes or glasses, but I often think that sometimes adults underestimate how well children can behave. In all the years I prepared separate tables for kids, not once did I have any dishes break. We occasionally had a spilled drink, but nothing broke. As for spilled drinks, I have wood floors, no carpeting.
I decided to risk it. So I set the table with Villeroy and Boch Winter Bakery Delight porcelain salad plates, and our everyday Picardie juice glasses, which in addition to being indestructible, have indentations that make it easy for little hands to hold.
The red napkins were a 20" x 20" linen from my stash, with which I had to play a while to make them smaller to be in proper proportion to the plate, and with a simple fold for the kiddos to handle. There would be nothing for them to cut, so I just inserted a salad fork, and a candy cane.
I truly love these dishes with the well-named delightful border that includes treats like cookies, candy canes, oranges, and some festive holly and red stripes. It has a definite European feel, a throw back to a more innocent time, and then, I centered a milk chocolate, orange flavored “orange” in the center of the plate.
Nothing says Christmas like a red plaid, and it was what gave the table that extra punch to make it more cheerful. I was able to find wrapping paper in the same color and pattern as the runner, which I used to wrap another Christmas ornament for each of the children. As their great-aunt, I reserve the right to spoil them all I want.
It was put together from two vases. On the outer vase, I hung candy canes all the way around. On the inner vase, I added a floral oasis, and inserted hypericum berries, and alstroemeria from the grocery store, and holly from my yard. I dug through my stash of picks, and added gingerbread snowflakes and glittery red spikes. The pictures really don't do it justice. It turned out quite adorable.
Then, at each place setting, I set a gingerbread Christmas ornament, personalized with their individual names, which also served as a place holder. I found these at Etsy. Eureka!
The chair covers hid an unmatched set of folding chairs. They were made of a stretchy material that didn't seem to provide any difficulties for the kids. For a bit of kitsch, each of them also got battery-operated Christmas lights necklaces.
The bottom front of the chair covers arched upwards, so the kiddos could still kick their legs backwards and not hit the covers.
I'll never forget the look on their faces when they saw their table, the best seats in the house. I wish I had sat with them at their table!
At the last minute, Sofia, one of the children, was unable to make it. All of her goodies went home with the parents. Aren't they adorable? Oh, it was such a blast having them here! Christmas is so special when there are children around.
And with the Children's Table taken care of, I now turned my attention to the Adult Table. Robert, my long-time friend and florist has retired, leaving me on my own for my arrangements. The nerve, how dare he? Nowadays my flowers are a hit or miss situation, since there are so few independent florist shops by me, I have to rely on supermarket flowers, which means not the best quality, or the most variety, so I made do with what I found.
But I think I did okay! These dahlias were spectacular, and became the pièce de résistance of the centerpiece.
The supermarket had the base with the greenery all ready to go, all I had to request were the extra flowers. So I added white roses, pinecones, and red hypericum berries. The glittery spikes I added myself at home.
We ended up having eleven adults and five children that night. The adult table was expanded with all four leaves, and, when adding two people at one end, it sat all of us quite comfortably with plenty of room.
I started collecting the Woodland Berry dishes from Williams-Sonoma a couple of years ago. In
2019 I only used the salad plates, but this year I also added the dinner plates, and the woodland theme completely took over the table.
The napkins were simply rolled up and secured with antler napkin rings, and I used the Spode Woodland flatware depicting woodland creatures on the handles. Quail and geese on the forks . . .
And deer on the knives.
I used my wedding goblets, Chartres by Atlantis, and, since I didn't have enough, I interspersed them with red Italian goblets from HomeGoods. The wine glasses were from Dollar Tree.
Does anything say Christmas like a red plaid does? I also added my Cape Fear pewter candlesticks, with 14" white tapers. I love the drama long tapers bring to the table!
And here are both tables, the children's closer to the Christmas tree in the living room. We had to take out the coffee table and a club chair to be able to fit the table, but it was worth it to have the little ones close by.
We prepared a Moscow Mule bar, and offered regular Mules and Cranberry. They were a huge hit!
As usual, I didn't take many pictures of the food, but here are the wines that my son, John, brought us from Virginia wineries to enjoy with dinner, a Lemberger and a Merlot.
For dessert we had home baked cookies: Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Almond Joy (Almonds, Chocolate Chips, and Coconut), and Butter Spritz in the shape of Christmas trees.
Honey Pecan Butterballs, our family's favorite.
Ashley, my nephew, Colin's wife, brought individual Custard-Berry Pies, baked in a cookie shell. She owns a wonderful boutique bakery, and we were very appreciative that she was able to carve out time during one of her busy seasons to bake for tonight.
My nephew, Scott, brought a special Chocolate Pie that was egg-free, peanut-free, and nut-free. One of his kids is highly allergic to those ingredients, so he's become an expert baker without those ingredients. I had a piece of pie myself, and it was truly delicious!
The desserts were served on the kitchen table, presided by the Gingerbread King.
We ended the night drinking Mis Amigos Tequila Shots, a new tradition being introduced to our family by the newest member, Stephen, due to marry my nephew, Kevin, next year! I had never had a tequila shot in my life, I poured myself a very little one, but even I participated. It was actually pretty good!
One thing I didn't forget was to take lots of family pictures . . .
Here are my brother, Al, and sister-in-law, Kathy with their granddaughter, Maisie. Little Maisie stole the show with her charming personality and delightful dress. She was one busy little girl that night. Our house hadn't experienced such a noisy Christmas in a long time. It was wonderful!
My sister-in-law, Kathy, with her son, Scott, daughter-in-law, Jackie and oldest grandchild, Oliver.
To take this picture, my son stuck his iPhone to the wall with a Command strip, then pulled the trigger with his watch. Such a geeky and marvelous idea! We have taken this same shot every Christmas I've celebrated in this house. Occasionally the people change a bit, but the love is the same.
With the exception of last Christmas, in which we cancelled all celebrations due to the pandemic, my brother and I have celebrated together every Christmas Eve since he was born. What a tradition!
Merry Christmas! May Jesus bless us all!
