Christmas Eve Birthday Dinner

With a Winter Woods Theme

In October, while walking down the aisles at Marburger Farms, a must-see area of the Warrenton-Round Top Texas antiques fair, I saw this deer and knew I had to have it.  I was on my way to see a dealer friend so when I passed my husband in the aisle I said, "There's a paper rmache deer at so & so booth, please go get it before it sells.  I want to use it on the table for your birthday dinner." When we met up again and I asked if he found the deer.  He laughed and said, "Yes, but...  It's NOT paper mache!"  I said, "What is it?" and he answered, "Concrete!"  Needless to say, it was quite a chore to get it to the table and slide it to the center without doing any damage to the table.  But, it did look wonderful!

For my winter table because we were hosting 24 guests, I needed to use two sets of white dishes.  I put them on white linen hem-stitched cloths.

Napkins were matching white linen with a gold "B" monogram and a twisted silver-colored metal napkin ring.  For a winter theme, I like mixing gold and silver.

Place cards were a simple white tent-fold on which I used a silver pen to write each guest's name.

On the back side, each had a different question that we took turns answering.  It's a fun way to get to know each other better and can be bought, as these were, or handmade with your own questions.

Balloon red wine glasses and water goblets were both our Waterford Lismore pattern.

At the bottom, was a silver plastic charger from Hobby Lobby.  They come in lots of colors and are very inexpensive but add a level of formality to a table setting.  The flatware is an antique silverplate called "Charter Oak."  It seems so elegant and winterish with its leaf motif.

A completed place setting.  (A test for you compulsive people - what's different?)

The beginning of the tablescape was a vintage concrete deer with peeling paint that probably sat out in the weather in a Texas front yard for many years.

Logs from our yard, some with moss still attached, were next and two feather Pottery Barn owls sat watch over the table.

Mercury glass candle holders and evergreen trees, some old and some new, were worked in along with sparkly pine cones, and silver pine branch garland.

There were also silver wire trees and lots of glass candlesticks with silver and off white tapers.

Groups of real pine cones, spray painted silver, filled in vacant spots.

The buffet table was covered with another white linen base cloth and had a vintage cutwork cloth on top.  Two more owls on logs, silver pine branch garland and pine cones decorated it.  The galvanized bucket would hold ice and bottles of white wine.

An inexpensive pitcher picked up at a gift shop in Boerne, Texas, where we go Christmas shopping every year the weekend after Thanksgiving, worked into my winter deer motif well.

White serving bowls and platters were mix-and-match.  These are new but I also use a lot of antique white ironstone which can be found fairly inexpensively in Warrenton and Round Top.

White and silver with touches of gold, a table fit for my Prince's birthday!

and an Informal Christmas Morning Brunch

Midmorning, while opening gifts, we stop for brunch.  To save on time (and stress), I almost always use the same tablescape I set up for my husband's birthday dinner, but changing dishes to look Christmasy.  This year I used lipstick red chargers and my Lenox "Holiday" dishes.

I made all the napkins years ago using store-bought solid red cotton napkins appliqued with various shaped evergreen trees that I cut out of flannel quilt fabrics in Christmas colors and then blanket stitched around the edges.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!
Wishing you a happy, healthy 2015!