Christine's Home and Travel Adventures: December 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

Formal New Year's Table

Happy New Year, my friends!

I just got back home from Florida after almost a month's stay. I sure am missing the kids and grandkids but I am glad to be home. I think our home missed me too cause everything fell apart while I was gone: clothes dryer, pool lights, automatic garage door, John's vehicle were all not working and mine had 3 alert lights on. I arrived last Saturday and been on the phone all day taking care of stuff but I am getting there. On top of everything, I have to prepare for a NY's eve party. But, I am back on the swing again and catching up. My SUV is fine, the garage door is working, the kitchen is bright and I had John's van towed to the dealer.

I even managed to do a tablescape for New Year in the formal dining room. I am still working on the buffet table for the party.

The only new things I bought were the wire orbs and the snowflakes napkin rings from Pier One in Florida. They were on clearance. The orbs were $1.56 each and the napkin rings were half off at $2.50 each.

I was going to use all silver on white but John was so excited to present me this hand made Saffron Marigold linen table runner and it has gold on it, so I decided to mix gold and silver. It is hand blocked printed and I like that it is 120 inches long, which is not easy to find in stores. He won't tell me where he found it though, lol.

I even alternated gold and silver plate chargers.

I found the perfect plates to use in my corner china cabinet, my platinum and gold Greek key china. I am all matchy matchy today, which is unusual cause I usually like to mix and match.

I did mix my flatware though. The German set that I used is a silver and gold mix but the smaller fork that came with it is really small. I think they are more for hors d'oeuvres or pickles, so I took my "Golden Natchez" salad forks to mix in. Just as I said earlier, the snowflakes napkin rings are from Pier One. The goblets are from Princess House "Fantasia" and the wine glasses are vintage that I bought a while back from an antique shop downtown, very pale yellow or golden in color.

I used silver and gold twisted candles. I bought them them from a Filipina who moved out of state a year or 2 ago and they have been sitting in the garage until now. I also used 2 types of candle holders, a shorter sterling silver and painted gold taller ones.

I bought these lidded oval servers from an estate sale about 6 months ago.

The dinnerware set came with a coffee pot, sugar and creamer and cups and saucers which are on the table. They are Bavarian china.

I used a plain silver satiny tablecloth under the gold embellished table runner.

I hope you all have a fun New Year's celebration and I wish you blessings throughout the coming year. Let's all work together in making 2014 better.

Thanks so much for your visits and thanks to the hostesses.

I am linking with

Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday

http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com/

Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday

http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Kathy's A Return To Loveliness

http://adelightsomelife.com

Sandi's Teatime Tues

http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Ruth's Tuesday Cuppa Tea

http://www.antiquesandteacups.info

FriendsSharing Tea

http://blog.bernideens.com/

Share Your Cup Thursday

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/

Paula's What's It Wed

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

Centerpiece Wed

http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com/

Martha and Terri's Teacup Tues

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

Kathleen's Let's Dish

http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Tartan Christmas Table

I couldn't resist these tartan dinner plates when I saw them at Homegoods. I thought they would be pretty for a Christmas table. So, I bought them and started playing with them. I already had the other red and white scrolly dessert plates that I bought from Marshall's a while back and I layered the 2 with a green straw placemat and my favorite wooden plate chargers from Pier One under them.

The napkin rings are Fitz and Floyd that I found in a consignment shop here in Fort Myers.

Setting is in the formal dining area.

Flatware from Kohl's. I found them on line while I was Christmas shopping for the kids and grandkids. Of course, I always end up buying something for me too, lol.

I have had that long and narrow clear glass vase there but it never had anything in it. I went to Jo Ann Fabrics to get some Christmas décor and I found those faux greeneries. The long aqua twigs are from HG.

We originally bought the pierced Christmas table runner from Belize but I have had it in Natchez for years and just brought it here.

The red votive candle holder set came from a yard sale, all for $3.

The glass stem on the right is from the Dollar Tree store and the crystal stem on the left is from HG.

Little Christmas trees from Publix Supermarket.

Thank you so much for stopping by again. I hope you are all continually enjoying this Christmas and holiday season. Enjoy the cool air with the family. I appreciate all your comments. They make my day and I am really, really thankful to the gracious hostesses who always throw this fun parties.

Let's all welcome the birth of our Savior!

I am to everyone who visits and all who host the parties.

The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday
http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com
Make it Pretty Monday
http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com/
The Scoop (Tuesday)

http://confessionsofaplateaddict.blogspot.com/

Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday

http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Kathy's A Return To Loveliness

http://adelightsomelife.com

One More Time Eventshttp://www.onemoretimeevents.com

Paula's What's It Wed

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

Centerpiece Wed

http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com/

Kathleen's Let's Dish

http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/
Sarah's Homemaking Link Party
http://www.hopeineveryseason.com/

Monday, December 16, 2013

Our Early Family Christmas Celebration in Florida

Since we just got back from a 2 week trip from Europe, John could not take off for Christmas and could only come for a long weekend so we decided to celebrate early with the kids and grandkids. It was held last Saturday at our Florida home.

We now have 12 grandchildren after the arrival of the youngest one last week, Watson Sage. Except for the oldest, AJ, who is 15 years old, all the others are still pretty young so I got some Christmas paper plates too for them to use. For the adults, we used Old Britain Castles Christmas plates.

I cooked and baked everything so was I ever so relieved when I was setting the last food on the table.

I baked the night before and cooked the morning of the party. We had a lunch buffet.

I placed a green MacKenzie Childs plate charger under every dish just to catch any food drippings and to protect the table since I did not use a table cloth.

I did not have any Christmas decorations here prior to my arrival on Dec. 10, but I found a few from Publix while I was grocery shopping, and also bought some from the Dollar Store, Kohl's and Homegoods. Those Christmas trees on the centerpiece were from Publix.

I baked some chocolate chip and raisin oatmeal cookies and found the star shaped chocolates from HG. I used the Old Britain Castle Christmas Tree salad plates for desserts. The kids used the small paper plates.

I brought the pierced Christmas table runner from our Natchez home. I originally bought it from Belize during one of our Caribbean travels.

John could only join us for a long weekend. He is already back home working but I am staying until the 28th. I did not want to leave him alone at Christmas but there is so much to do here and he said he scheduled surgery cases on Christmas eve so he will be busy anyway.

The weather was so nice, low 80's, sunny and breezy so we all ate on the back porch.

This is the first time we got all the children and grandchildren together under one roof and they were so happy to play together. We see them every now and then and they come for a visit but never together until this past weekend.

After lunch, my youngest daughter Tina had them decorating cookies.

Here is everybody minus John and me. We would have taken one with us too but it was a real challenge keeping the little ones together for a photo.

So we just took one with the kids and their spouses. Of course some of the grandkids ran to join their parents, lol. One was sick so he could not join us.