Merry Christmas! I hope you're having a wonderful day with your family and friends. Christmas with teens is a totally different dynamic than Christmas with young children. Both are wonderful in their own way! We got up about 7:00 am, poured our coffee, and took our time opening presents. It was slow and easy, with lots of laughter and reminiscing. We've cooked, spent time reading, playing with new gifts (Jewell got a lyre!), and now the family is off to see the new Spiderman movie. This is an annual tradition with my brothers and their families. However, I stayed home this year. I'm battling a cough, and even though I feel fine, I don't want to make anyone else uncomfortable. So I decided to take a little time to do some blogging!
I had the pleasure of hosting the Christmas brunch party for Jewell's high school cheer squad for four years. For two of those years, I served as the assistant coach under my best friend, Amanda. Her daughter (and one of Jewell's best friends) graduated a year before Jewell. So I served as head coach during Jewell's senior year. This tablescape is for that final year, and I have to say, it may be my favorite of the four! You can go back and see the others by clicking here. 2017 was simply called Christmas Cheer and had a rustic cabiny feel. 2018 was a more formal Traditional Christmas theme. 2019 was a more whimsical tablescape with the cute little Bottlebrush Woodland Friends. For 2020, I chose "Blue Christmas"!
I always try to use as much as I can from my (ever growing) stash, but I also allow myself to buy a little something, especially if it can be used again.
I know the lit candles are throwing some light, but the pictures are so much more alive with them lit!
This year I decided to do something totally different, and I went with "Blue Christmas" as my theme. 2020 was quite a year. Blue seemed a little appropriate, but I didn't want it to be depressing. I think this tablescape is anything but that!
I found some lovely grapevine garland to use in the centerpieces.
I also bought some sweet little grapevine napkin rings. I know I'll use these both quite a bit in the future! These are the everyday dishes I registered for when we married. They are "White Satin" by Nikko. They are so timeless. I still love them! This flatware is what I had when I got my first apartment 30 years ago. It's "Margate" by Pfaltzgraff.
I really prefer to make my napkins, but time just didn't permit this year. I found these classic blue plaid ones on Amazon. I can see these being used year round!
I found some blue ornaments at Walmart and mixed them with some gold and white ones.
This was our largest cheer squad since I had been hosting. I always invited the mothers, too. I put half the moms at the breakfast table. As you know, I have an obsession with colored glasses. These are a little hard to see, but they're a little more modern than my stems. They came from Service Merchandise about 25 years ago! The style is a generous double old-fashioned.
I had a good long piece of blue denim I had found on sale years ago. I used it to make runners to anchor my table and establish my color scheme.
I have stockings hanging on the backs of all my chairs. I have collected them over the years. These go up with my decorations and just make the table seem more festive even when it's not set. Plus, we don't have a mantel to hang them on!
I had three tables to set, so I really dug into my closets and cabinets to find things to fill them all. These white jasper votives are about 20 years old. I bought them at a Party Lite party someone was hosting. I placed them on top of brass candlesticks for height. Isn't the glow just beautiful?
I also purchased some wide blue plaid ribbon to weave through my centerpiece. I was careful to save the rolls it came on, and I rewrapped it so I can use it again!
The wood-look chargers came from Dollar Tree. I have a whitewashed set and a light brown set. I used both.
The other half of the moms sat in the dining room.
I tried to make the tablescapes as similar as possible. I used basically the same components, but of course they were so organic, that they all looked a little different.
The only difference here is the flatware. This is my wedding everyday pattern. It's "Austen" by Yamazaki.
These stems are "Virginia" by Fostoria in light blue.
You know I love candlelight, no matter what time of day! And these are some of my dearly loved votives from Dollar Tree. They are so beautiful! I use tealights in them so I don't have to deal with melted candle wax when they've burned down.
I used tall white tapers in shorter brass candlesticks on this table. I wanted the candles to rise above the centerpiece.
I used artificial green garland as a base for the centerpieces and added the grapevine, ribbon, ornaments, and pinecones.
I wanted the centerpieces to be very organic, so I didn't struggle much with them! I wrapped and twisted them and then stood back. I made a couple of adjustments to cover any holes or help it to lay flatter on the table. That's it! Then I added the pinecones and ornaments to fill small spaces.
I love my white tablecloths. They're the perfect base for any table! The white accents helped to break up the darker colors.
You can see how I use ribbon to hang the stockings on my chairs. This is the room where I hang the stockings that Santa fills for us! We take them down on Christmas Eve and lay them on the fireplace to help him out a little. Don't want to slow him down too much!
I moved my couch out of the playroom and placed two eight foot tables together. This allowed all the girls to sit together!
Putting two tables together gave me a lot more space to fill, so this centerpiece was a little wider where the others were longer and more narrow.
Jewell and I love fairy lights. We use them year round! I found these on Amazon a few years ago. Unlike the old sets with the clunky battery boxes that take three AA's, these are light, flexible wire that will easily hold a shape. Best thing about them is they take a button battery, so it's so simple to hide the end. I twisted the lights over the top, but dipped them around to make them look as if they were twisted throughout.
I used some brown rush placemats on this table to help fill the extra white space. I would have loved to use them on the other tables, but I only have a dozen. I thought they were needed on this table more.
I had traditional holiday music playing on the TV for ambiance. The tree in the playroom is tall and thin and covered in ornaments the kids have made or that we have collected on vacation. Gerald loves colored lights, so this is our fun, eclectic tree. Plus it looks so good with the paint color in the playroom. (Although that same paint makes it difficult to get a good picture!)
I borrowed a set of my mother's flatware for this table. It's Oneida, but I don't know the pattern. I also borrowed some of her white dishes. They have a pretty basket weave pattern around the edge. They just add another beautiful layer!
The stems on this table are "Gibraltar" by Libbey. I started the set when I found several at a yard sale at Faulkner. I've been lucky to find several more pieces over the years at Thrift Stores.
I love to take an aerial picture of my tablescapes! It often helps my find spots that need work, but mainly, I just love the different viewpoint!
We have hundreds of pine trees on our property. The kids have always had the (hated) job of picking up fallen pinecones before Gerald rakes a fresh drop of pinestraw to use in my flowerbeds. I had them pick up a few dozen really pretty ones for me. I love the smaller ones that are still attached to each other like the ones above. I will do a post soon on how to treat these so they're safe to use on your table.
I was able to rent the chairs to use at this table for $1 each. The white ones looked so pretty, plus they were smaller and fit better than a folding metal chair. Well, I hope this "Blue Christmas" put you in a happy mood. It did me!
I'm so glad you stopped by my neck of the woods!
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