Christine's Home and Travel Adventures

Sunday, January 28, 2018

A Christmas Brunch in Late January

I have been AWOL for a while. John and I were in Illinois for over a month because my 99 and a half year old mom got ill but thank God she recovered and is home with my sister now. I am just so glad to be back home to sunny Florida. It was so cold in Illinois and I was hibernating there. I did not want to go out. I was not used to that kind of weather.

I took a picture of my mom before I left. Doesn't she just have the nicest complexion? At 99.5 years old, she hardly has any wrinkles. I hope I inherit that trait of hers.

Because we were not home for Christmas, we could not give our presents to our children and grandkids. We decided to have a Christmas brunch with my next door daughter and her family and have exchange gifts afterwards.

I thought silver and blue would be appropriate in January, so I pulled out my Spode blue dishes that come in different pattern.

As I was at Homegoods in Illinois, I spotted a set of Spode blue goblets in boxes. Yes, I made an exception of going out even in the cold, when it involved Homegoods, lol, and going to church of course. They came 4 in a box and luckily they had 2 available. I could not believe the price, $4.99/box of 4. The cashier could not believe it either when I was paying. I couldn't pass that out so I decided to put them in my hand carry when we flew home.

My special guests, my grandkids: Nathan, Brendan and Reese.

We had French toast and sausage, egg and cheese casseroles and bacon, with mimosas for the adults plus mango/lychee tea for drinks.

Spode blue dinner and salad plates come in different patterns and shapes. I love them all and enjoy mix matching them.

For tea, I used a peacock Polish pottery teapot and Royal Staffordshire's "Tonquin" cups and saucers.

Just look at those happy faces! We all had a lot of fun. We still have presents for our other kids and grandkids who live farther so we might have more Christmas parties in the near future, lol.

We had to take another picture as we parted.

Thank you all for stopping by. I also appreciate receiving emails asking if I am ok since I have not posted for a while. As you can see, we are fine, just have been really busy. I am also still taking care of calling people and hiring them to fix damages caused by Hurricane Irma but little by little, we are getting there.

Thank you to all the hostesses of these fun memes.

Anything Goes" Pink Saturday

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/pink-saturday/

Christine's Dishing It and Digging It

http://www.rustic-refined.com/

Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday

http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/

Chloe's Celebrate it Monday

http://celebrateanddecorate.com

Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden Blog Party!

http:/blog.bernideen.com

Ruth's Tuesday Cuppa Tea

http://www.antiquesandteacups.info

Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday

http://www.astrollthrulife.com

Show and Share

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

Home Matters

http://lifewithlorelai.com/

Share Your Cup
http://jannolson.blogspot.com

Kathy's Home and Garden Thursday

http://www.adelightsomelife.com/

Susan's Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Share your Style Thursday

http://www.thevintagenestblog.com/

Katherine's Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

https://katherinescorner.com

Anything Blue

http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/

Kate's Flaunt it Friday

http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/

Foodie Fri and Everything Else
http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

Friday, December 29, 2017

Teatime on Snow!

We are from Florida and it really does not snow there but we have been in Illinois since Dec. 9 because my 99 year old + mom was ill. Thank God she recovered and is home now.

Anyway, it snowed on Christmas eve just in time for a white Christmas

I was dreaming of doing a tea time table on the snow and how cool the photos would be with the surrounding snow. I thought I would never have another chance if I did not do it now, so I searched for tea things that I could use from my sister's cabinets and this is what I came up with: an old Asian cast iron tea set. And what better centerpiece to use than a bonsai tree for an Asian table?

Good thing my hubby John was nice enough to play along with me so I had a photographer when I wanted to be in the picture, lol.

I think this is my favorite shot..

My sister had 2 dead trees cut just a few days ago and I had the cutters save a table and trunks to make us 4 benches. Before they could cut the last 2, their electric saw got dull so they are coming back to cut me 2 more.

While we were playing, my brother in law was shoveling. Boy oh boy! Am I glad we do not have to deal with something like this in Florida! Now, I appreciate our home even more.

Thanks for stopping by! The temp is below zero here now and we are freezing, just not used to this kind of weather. I don't even want to go out anywhere. Waaaah!!! I miss being home!!

I would like to link with the following:

Anything Goes" Pink Saturday

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/pink-saturday/

Christine's Dishing It and Digging It

http://www.rustic-refined.com/

Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday

http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/

Chloe's Celebrate it Monday

http://celebrateanddecorate.com

Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden Blog Party!

http:/blog.bernideen.com

Ruth's Tuesday Cuppa Tea

http://www.antiquesandteacups.info

Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday

http://www.astrollthrulife.com

Show and Share

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

Home Matters

http://lifewithlorelai.com/Share Your Cup

http://jannolson.blogspot.com

Kathy's Home and Garden Thursday

http://www.adelightsomelife.com/

Susan's Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Share your Style Thursday

http://www.thevintagenestblog.com/

Katherine's Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

https://katherinescorner.com

Kate's Flaunt it Friday

http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/

Foodie Fri and Everything Else
http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

Friday, December 22, 2017

Christmas Table at my Sister's in Illinois, Dec. 2017

I have been in Illinois for over a week because my almost 100 year old mom has gotten ill and was in the hospital. We were already advised to get her Hospice care but lo and behold, she recovered and is home now and is back to normal.

I am still here nursing her back to health and I am kinda missing tablescaping. So, I dug out Christmas plates and other stuff from my sister's cabinet. Look what I came up with!

Now, we are ready for our Christmas eve dinner!

Gibson dinnerware. The pattern looks so familiar. I think it is the same pattern as the Christmas set I gave my daughter, Tina, which was also given to me by a friend in Natchez, Bhel. But I have so many Christmas sets so when she asked me for one, I gave this, since I knew exactly where it was in the garage. And besides, I can always borrow them if ever I want to use them cause my daughter lives just next door. I am very happy for her to be the one to store them since I have run out of storage.

I just went around the living room to see what I could use for a centerpiece and picked these items that I grouped together.

I found these pretty bejeweled and beaded napkin rings in the china cabinet drawer.

And now that I got my fix and I am happy, lol.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a joyous and blessed New Year!!!!

I am linking with

Beverly's Anything Goes Pink Saturday

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/pink-saturday/

Christine's Dishing It and Diggiing it

http://www.rustic-refined.com

Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday

http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/

Chloe's Celebrate it Monday

http://celebrateanddecorate.com

Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday

http://www.astrollthrulife.com

Show and Share

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

Home Matters

http://lifewithlorelai.com/

Susan's Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Share your Style Thursday

http://www.thevintagenestblog.com/

Katherine's Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

https://katherinescorner.com

Kate's Flaunt it Friday

http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/

Sunday, December 3, 2017

First Christmas Tablescape, 2017, Pink and Green

It's December and although it is still pretty warm here, it prompted me to start tablescaping for Christmas.

I used my Spode "Emma's Garland" dinnerware set. They all come in different patterns but all blend together.

I just love this pink and white snowman ice cream parlor so I thought I'd use it. I found him after Christmas on clearance at TJ Maxx in Monroe, LA many, many years ago.

I only have 4 of the plate chargers in this pattern so I alternated them with some other white ones that I have.

Beaded snowflake napkin rings from Pier 1

Just thought I would show you the entry table which is opposite the dining table.

The tea set is in the same pattern.

This snowman greets you when you enter the house. I think I have a snow woman too but I could not find her. I am sure she is buried in the garage, lol. Yes, I am not done organizing.