Our Christmas Day table is set... I may do a few more tweaks, but I love the way it turned out. With only four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, I have felt so behind in preparations, but I think I am done, well, mostly. Cookies are baked, packaged, and mailed to friends and family (thanks Kissy, hubby, and boys), the house is decorated inside and out (hubby did an amazing job on the lights in the front yard), the trees are decorated (thanks hubby and boys), Christmas cards are done, and all presents are bought. All I have left is to wrap. Phew!
The Christmas Day table is set with Lenox Holiday, a timeless china pattern that also happens to be my wedding china. This pattern, introduced in 1974, is among the most popular from Lenox. The elegant creamy ivory plates, accented with gold, feature vibrant green holly leaves and red berries, making them ideal for Christmas celebrations! I've always imagined a "classic" table setting with plenty of sparkling crystal and gleaming silverware, and this year, I finally created that table. I wanted the dishes to stand out!
Over the years, I've acquired many Holiday pieces as gifts, including wedding presents. My mother-in-law gave us pieces for several years as Christmas gifts. I've loved this pattern for a long time. I've enjoyed adding matching serving pieces and accessories over the years. Hubby and I have been married 26 years, that is a lot of collecting! My bestie also has Lenox Holiday; she has collected pieces over the years and inherited several beautiful pieces from her mother.
On Christmas Day, we follow several traditions. For breakfast, we continue the custom started by my parents, enjoying Polish sausage with horseradish (though I'm the only one who eats horseradish!) and eggs. For dinner, we'll serve my renowned lasagna, I'll bake a loaf of bread, and we'll have a bit of salad. So, what are our plans for Christmas Eve? When my husband and I first got married, we lived in Philadelphia, where many Italian families celebrate the "Feast of the Seven Fishes" on Christmas Eve. Although my husband is Italian, his family didn't observe this tradition. Over the years, we've usually had some type of seafood on Christmas Eve. This year, however, we're going all out by making a cioppino with eight fishes. Traditionally, each fish is prepared differently, but since there are only four of us, we're making the ciopinno. What is cioppino? It's a tomato and wine-based seafood soup/stew filled with clams, shrimp, mussels, crab, and white fish. The dish originated in San Francisco, and we loved visiting a famous restaurant near Monterey, Phil's Fish Market, which sets the standard for cioppino. I'll be using Phil's recipe. This morning, Son #2 and I visited the fishmonger at the Farmer's Market and a local Italian grocery to gather all the ingredients! Wish us luck!
The plate arrangement is quite straightforward: a gold charger, the dinner plate, an emerald green plate—whose maker I have yet to identify, but I will eventually! And finally, another Lenox Holiday plate. The napkin is vintage, and the beaded napkin ring both feature holly. The crystal is Waterford Mourne; this pattern was produced from 1968 to 2009 and was exclusively sold in Europe. When I began collecting it, I ordered from a massive Waterford catalog. I occasionally find pieces on eBay, but mostly from Replacements.com. I recently added a stunning wine decanter to the collection. The crystal hurricanes are not Waterford; I'm not even sure they are crystal, and I can't recall where I purchased them, but I love how the pattern complements the Mourne crystal.
The silverware is my latest addition, International Silver's "Danish Princess" Holmes & Edwards Inlaid IS. It features a lovely pattern with a touch of Art Deco. I currently have eight place settings and plan to add four more. The set includes several serving pieces, which I love. As for the centerpiece, the table is so beautiful that I wanted to keep it simple, so I chose flowers from Trader Joe's!
The flowers' colors match the hues of the placemats (which are Fiesta, by the way!). I adore the scent of pine, which I miss the most about having a real tree! Speaking of trees, we have several, but the largest one is in the living room! It’s decorated with family heirloom ornaments, the boys' ornaments, Radko's, cherries, candy canes, snowflakes, Shiny Brite garland, and birds... twelve feet of a glittering tree! Bonus! I didn't realize I captured these photos during the "Blue Hour!"
In the family room, we have several other trees: a Star Trek tree decorated with Hallmark Star Trek ornaments, three small sports-themed trees featuring the Chicago Bears, Cubs/Giants baseball, and San Jose Sharks hockey, and lastly, a small tree decorated with Grateful Dead ornaments.
I am looking forward to at least two more Christmas tables before the actual holiday! Wishing you and yours a very Happy Holiday!
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