Christmas Eve dawned, and I was, for once, really well organized. I had the entire morning to finish wrapping gifts for the local kids tree on Christmas morning. Our Christmas Eve tree and dinner was scheduled with our family toddlers in mind...tree at 2:p.m. and an early dinner at 5:00 p.m. to include a few extra friends. The kids planned to take the little ones home for an 8:00 bedtime, in order to have plenty of time to prepare their tree for early Christmas morning. I was thrilled to know that I would have plenty of time to clean up after our dinner and wrap the last of the gifts to travel to Dallas mid-Christmas Day, after the Santa Claus tree at the kids' house. At about 9:00 a.m., Christmas Eve morning, the phone rang. "Mom, David and I are really sick. We both have 102-3º temperature. We think that we should head to the Urgent Care doctor as soon as possible. We think that the most efficient plan is for us to go together, but that means that we need daddy and you to come take care of the kids while we're gone. Is it possible for you to be here by 10:30 a.m.? We shouldn't be away from the house very long. We are determined to rally for your tree tonight." "Sure," I said, as I envisioned my lovely day beginning to unravel. What's the saying? "We make plans, and God laughs." He must have been howling. Cutting to the chase...we returned home after 4:30 p.m. The extra guests had been cancelled because we didn't want to expose them to sickness. I threw the King Ranch Chicken in the oven as we started our tree at 5:00 p.m. Dinner for the 6 of us happened at 7:00 p.m. The little ones were taken home to go to bed around 8:30 p.m., I proceeded to wash dishes and put food away, and I finished wrapping gifts for the Santa tree and the Dallas tree shortly before 4:00 a.m. We were up early, dressed to drive across town, and at the kids house before 8:00 a.m. The trip to Dallas was postponed until a 6:00 a.m departure the day after Christmas. Can you say, "Keystone Cops"? I can say that the babies had a great time at both trees and never knew that Chaos was making every effort to run rampant through our Christmas. I was so grateful that I had finished setting my tablescape days earlier. Turns out that it was about the only thing that was really ready to go for our Christmas Eve celebration. Well, the lovely yeast rolls that I left rising that morning as we drove away were more than ready...way more than ready. Let's just say that they were..."interesting". I originally set the dining room table for 8 diners. Come on in and take a look at what was supposed to be...
The photos were snapped just before the food came out of the oven. I hope I can give you an adequate view. I called this year's tablescape "The Kids' Table". I wanted it to be fun for our little ones.
The Bormioli red glass charger was an obvious choice for my tablescape...
The Castleton Sovereign dinner plate with its gold bead edge was the perfect mate for the Oneida gold tone flatware and...
the Williams Sonoma Night Before Christmas series salad plate. The salad plate is a new addition to my collection. I couldn't resist it.
Traditional Christmas colors were added with the Vietri optic green goblet and the AJKA Arabella red wine.
A place setting for the kids' table....kids from 2 to 92!
I knew immediately that this year's centerpiece would include my old Fitz and Floyd Santa's Car cookie jar. I fell in love with the 6 red lighted mercury glass trees, found at New Leaf Florist. They had to be included in our Christmas Eve tablescape. The quartet of red Mercury Glass hurricanes happily added another healthy shot of Christmas red. They each sat in a festive and glittery green candle ring from Hobby Lobby. The heavy red and white runner is from a local store called North Pole City. Really!
On a whim, I added 6 jars, each with a needlepointed Santa Claus lid. I stitched them many years ago and had forgotten about them. I just happened to open the drawer in which they had been stored. So glad that I found them!
Voila! We have a centerpiece for "The Kids' Table".
Beatrice Emaline (now age 4), seems to be pleased with my design.
We're ready to celebrate the most important birthday of every year!
Candlelight shots seem perfect for Christmas Eve...
As thrown together as the evening came to be, it was nonetheless a precious time to share with our beloved family. I think that I may always want to be seated at the children's table! I hope that you had a marvelous Christmas. I love that our babies are becoming old enough to understand that we give gifts at Christmas to remember the amazing and priceless gift that God sent to us when He gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ, my Lord, the Lover of our ragged souls. Have a safe and Happy New Year's celebration!
This week I'm joining:
