december table

I'm sititng downstairs by myself wrapped in an amazing blanket and typing away this Monday morning. I'm the only one left and the heat is dutifully raising the temp above the 54 degrees it was when I woke up.

For this December tablescape I decided to do a few different versions so you could find different elements of each to adapt for yourself. First, I start with a blank slate like this, just white dishes and goblet water glasses:

I took these next photos in the evening so you could see what some mood lighting looks like. Okay, it was actually because I was too impatient to wait until morning but the added benefit is that you get to experience it as if you were at dinner at the Migonis'. I decided to go with a sophisticated dark red theme.

Two years ago I pick up this Christmas tree at Marshalls for $5 at their after Christmas clearance sale. I love how the light glints off of it with the candles.

Once I became a little more patient I decided to take some photos the next morning so you could see in detail what everything looked like. I used red Pottery Barn chargers that I picked up on clearance a couple of years ago as the base for each table setting and then let that, with the silver Christmas tree, determine the color scheme

I put two candles on the table, but of course forgot to put the cranberries in the candle vases. Opps. You'll see a photo of what it looks like at the bottom of this post.

See these amazing glasses? Pam, my mom's stepmother, is amazing. You may think I find a lot of stuff in the trash but she, she is the master... she makes money off of things people are throwing away. She either found these great glasses at a yard sale or at the dump and gave them to my mom.

While AJ took Drew for a run I went to the Dollar Store (never under estimate the ultra tacky Dollar Store). I picked up three sleeves of simple silver balls for a total of 36 that I had to work with. I placed a napkin in each bowl to raise the height and then place five ornaments on top of each one. The two end seats got a little silver glitter action on their ornaments. Is it practical? No, of course not, but it's fun.  :)

Now, if you don't want to purchase anything for your December tablescape try one of these arrangements... I went to the woods yesterday and came back with an armload of bittersweet and some low hanging greens. It took me about 10 minutes. And I even found a perfectly good pumpkin someone discarded, which I happily will display until Thanksgiving.

This next scene was built around the nativity. I have this gorgeous set that my parents have been giving me pieces to throughout the years and I decided to just put out of a few of the main pieces for this tablescape. I believe you can buy the set at Hallmark's Paper Store.

I paired it with the greens from the woods, I think I only used three branches and then did some clipping and rearranging and placed four candles on the outside of the nativity.

For this next tablescape I decided to be completely earthy. I used the box I typically use to hold Drew's diapers and wipes to hold the greens and pine cones I found in the woods. Please disregard that it looks like a mini tree is coming out of the right side of the box... I must have forgotten to do some important trimming. :)

I put a few cranberries in each wine glass because I've heard of cranberry champagne and that sounds delish (I don't have champagne glasses).

Then I surrounded each of the vanilla candles with cranberries. Most Dollar Stores have candles that look just like this in case you are looking for an inexpensive place to pick up thick pillar candles.

I tied the silverware together with a piece of twine to give it a little bit of a rustic feel.

There you have it... three table settings for Christmas. I want to use the first one for a Christmas dinner party but also plan on doing something in varying shades of blues since that is what our Christmas tree will be decorated in... but I'll show you that after Thanksgiving.

Happy Monday!