Last Year's Christmas Dinner in Black White and Red

It seems that I'm either late to share our Christmas tablescapes or never get around to it at all. Some bloggers seem to be able to go all out with their designs in advance of Christmas eve or day. I just can't manage that with the need for us to bring in an extra table an borrow extra chairs to accomodate16 people. 

So, here I am sharing last year's tablescapes that we enjoyed on Christmas day 2016.

Black and white gingham and pops of red was the theme of the day.

 An extra table and our kitchen peninsula allowed us to have enough seating for all.

 Layered plates in red, white and black looked simple, yet festive.

 A sprig of berries and a strand of red, satin cord made simple ties for the napkins at each setting.

 I added festive words to each glass with white marker...a last minute touch that I realized would smudge. I didn't have time to do a more permanent job with paint.

 The round table sat six and was positioned right next to the 6 ft. folding table that sat another 6. That way everyone faced eachother and no one had to look at someones back.

I remember being so frustrated with taking last minute pics before everyone arrived and having such trouble with my camera's settings and the bright lights and shadows of the day. I never did get a good pic of the lantern centerpieces that co-ordianted with the window theme!

A few different angles of all of the seatings.

This was the view entering from the front hall. 

 I did manage to get one good pic of one of the lantern centerpieces.

 It was surrounded on both sides by this votive vignette.

  

 Thankfully, our kitchen and dining area is nice and large.

 Each seat had a chalkboard tag with a berry sprig and ribbons. The chair covers are one of my most "pinned" posts of really easy 50 cent covers.

DIY chair covers 

 The chandy's got greens that I cut from the yard...

 and berries, silver bells and a big gingham bow.

  

A Holiday punch on a made up stand to catch any drips and make it easy to pour!

The mirror that I added was nice and flat making the jug nice and stable for serving.

A little hack that I like to do to add more serving or prep space in the kitchen is to add a cutting board to a pulled out drawer!

 This was last year's bay window theme in the kitchen that never made the rounds in sharing...you might like to see it here

I loved the theme of all the lanterns, especially lit at night!

The best part of our feast was the, good old southern, oyster roast that we enjoyed, beforehand, outside in the 70+ degree weather with drinks and the family.

Love, Hugs and Kisses,

JP

and Gucci, too!

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Happy New Year & Our Christmas Eve Dinner for 14

It's officially 2017 so, here's to all things great...health and happiness to you all and a better economy for our country!

Since this gathering, of 14, was held on Christmas Eve I wasn't able to share this post prior. I'm hoping that you may still enjoy seeing what I pulled together for this year.

It was my turn to host our get-together for my family in Myrtle Beach. Thank goodness our kitchen and dining area is quite a nice size, since I had to fit in fourteen.

I have managed to squeeze as many as 17, in the past, by utilizing every square inch of space!

This was the inspiration for my theme this year....if you'd like, you can see it here

Cell phone pics of the tablesczpes were my first shots.

Black, white and red just had to be the color scheme with gingham to make it dramatic.

The eye-popping colors of the layered place settings really were dramatic.
Plate chargers are my newest love. I have a set, in black, for every day. They don't stain like placemats can and really save a tablecloth from spills!

Since I didn't have enough glass tags, words of the season identified the wine glasses and a white marker made them easy to write on and wash off.

Our everyday round table sat 6...

with a black lantern as the centerpiece.

 I love to add a little something special t the chairs. Each one had a faux chalkboard name tag accent.

Berries, bells and lanterns were  everywhere around the room.

Lighting can often be a big challenge for me, as you can clearly see here. I've added a few of them anyway. I was in a rush to get the pics and finish prepping for the day.

Everyone got a faux mercury or red glass votive holder as a gift.

This pic is nice and bright and shows you where I sat four more at our litchen island.

Six more sat at the long table with all guests facing the others.

We had just enough room to move around the room to mingle and get hings done.

Another lantern with red berries and a single silver bell was set on a dollar store tray. For fun and contrast I filled it with more bells, cranberries, and faux snow.

This little mirrored votive vignette flanked the tray to create a nice long centerpiece for the table.

This was the view as everyone arrived.

It was absolutely perfect with our kitchen decor!

This is how I cover plain old folding chairs. It's my little creation that I made up a few years ago.
It's one of my most popular posts that always gets pinned and shared!
Here's how I made them here

 Now, here are more pics from around the room.

My faux chalkboard window got a quick message with my trusty white marker.

I took advantage of another place to use as a station to hold more things to fill our glasses/

To avoid messy spills from the champagne in the cooler I made a little beverage stand.

1-a clear plastic tray to protect the gingham placemat
2-a pedestal was made by inverting an ironstone compote
3-a red paper place was set beneath for a pop of red
4-the mirror was placed on the plate to add more stability...the plate was just not perfectly flat in the center.
5- the folded square Battenburg napkin was added "just because"

I ordered even smaller cardstock lanterns that were to be placed at each setting for every guest. I was so disappointed that they never arrived!

More of the window scene can be seen in the link at the beginning of this post.

This old country cupboard hides our tv, printer, files and tons of supplies. I just drape each one over each hook on the sides when we need access.

Chandy's always need to be festive.

A cutting board or tray, set on an open drawer, can work well as an extra serving place as long as it won't interfere with traffic.

Three buckets of oysters were brought, by my nephew, as part of the beginning of our feast.

Complete with his portable oyster shucking set up!

It was a gorgeous day in the 70's that perfected the fun of the treat.

This was the trifle that we had for dessert

Honey and I went to the beach on Christmas day. The temperature dropped by 10 degrees. My outfit was more for the photo op.

Those are my tiny snowmen sitting on the sand.

This might make a really cute card for Christmas next year!

This one will be for my honey's wallet :)

Now, I'll be moving on to planning some projects for the upcoming day of love...it will be here before we know it!

Love, Hugs and Kisses,

JP

and Gucci, too!

And......this post was honored as a feature pick over at shoestringelagance
and over at  embracingchange
Thank you, Theresa and Stacey!


Now, on to linking to parties here

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