Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is over and we are hurtling headlong toward Christmas!  I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  There were so many beautiful tables and warm sentiments posted that I'm sure you did!

Our family is very small.  There were just four of us for dinner.  I don't know how you ladies with HUGE guest lists do it all!!  We did have a wonderful meal and family time.  My husband is from England so Thanksgiving was new to him when he first came here, but even though it's not a traditional holiday for him...he enjoys it!

So here is our quiet Thanksgiving for four...
I love autumnal colors and mixed as many as I could ... lots of rust, orange, red, brown, and yellow
I love the little turkeys (there is one on the other side)...my mother had turkey candles that looked just like this.  We didn't ever burn them...they were decorative and appeared on the table year to year.  I also love the leaf-shaped butter dish.  It's really a jam dish from my mother-in-law.  
Dinnerware for all the courses...square soup bowl and underplate, salad plate and dinner plate.  I found oak leaf place card holders and made place cards on the computer.  I know...there were only four of us, but I think they are so pretty.  Dinner was butternut squash soup, tossed salad, and the usual turkey and gravy, dressing, sweet and mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, peas, homemade cranberry sauce, rolls and desserts!!!  Sound familiar? ;-)
I guess my "leaf motif" is pretty obvious!  Not a very good picture of the maple leaf napkin rings, but they are so autumnal...I've seen some beautiful leaf plates on several tablescapes this holiday and love them all!!  The flowers I picked up at the grocery store when shopping for dinner
Desserts were served from the buffet...Unfortunately, the other two desserts were in the refridgerator so it looks a little bare.  This is the apple pie but we also had pumpkin pie and a chocolate trifle.  My hubby loves whipped cream so we had home-made whipped cream to go with the pies (or by itself for whipped cream lovers!!!)

Pssst...by the way, I don't know if you noticed the placemats. I really do have four matching placemats and went crazy looking for the fourth one.  I could NOT find it so I mixed two patterns in the same color family.  Not ideal, but I think it worked out fine!

Sorry the pics aren't better...it seems that photos always happen at the last minute!!  I have to really spend some time working on my blog...but I am so busy with our new computer system at work and the holidays coming that it won't happen for a while!

Now for the dish on the dishes:
  • Dinner plates are Royal Albert "English Garden"
  • Salad plates are from Big Lots
  • Square soup bowls are Temp-tations "Old World" cranberry with Wedgwood underplates
  • Hemstitched orange napkins, napkins rings, and place card holders are from different vendors on  ebay
  • Butter dish, again, from England (thanks to my mother-in-law)
  • Placemats (both styles) are from TJ Maxx
  • Yellow leaf plates were a find at TJ Maxx and there were only four of them
  • Square floral dessert plates from TJ Maxx
  • All of the crystal is Waterford Marquis in the Brookfield pattern from TJ Maxx
  • The silverplate is a variety of companies and patterns
Thank you all for stopping by...I hope you enjoyed our small Thanksgiving.  Be sure to hop over to Between Naps where Susan is hosting Tablescape Thursday...she hosts an great party(her link is above right)


Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Autumn Dinner

Saturday, we had guests for dinner.  My sister Lynne and friend Diane came for a "comfort food" autumn dinner.  I love this time of year and set the table for the season. (I took photos in a hurry so they are worse than usual!!!).  I never seem to get pics of the food either :-(

It was just the four of us so we left the leaf out of the table

A closer look at the place setting...
  
The leaf serves as the bread plate (you can see the chandelier reflected on the table!)

A white dinner plate, black toile salad plate, and a casual footed soup bowl

Leaf bordered place cards in fall colors

The table is "small-ish" so the only centerpiece is a cute ivory pumpkin and candles that match the bread plates

Our dining room is open to the living room so you HAVE to have 
a cozy fire with a comfort food dinner!

Dinner was definitely comfort food.  We started with homemade chicken veggie soup.  Then we had salad and rolls.  Main course was pot roast (with chicken cooked with it-I don't eat red meat), mashed potatoes (my husband's specialty), fresh green beans, and peas (the only green veggie he eats!).  For dessert we had a chocolate trifle made with chocolate cake,, chocolate pudding, and fresh whipped cream.  For you purists, there is no fruit or liqueur because DH doesn't eat fruit either.   It was a relaxed and  leisurely dinner and we had a wonderful time!  

Now for the dish on the dishes:

  • The paisley dinner plates are from TJM...I bought two several weeks ago and was mad at myself for not getting more.  I happened to be in there last week and there were still two there!!!! Yippee!!!
  • The black toile salad plates are also TJM
  • Ditto the leaf plates...they are from last year and there were only four.  Wish there had been more.
  • The place mats are from Linens & Things several years ago.
  • The paisley napkins are Ralph Lauren (also at TJM).  I have matching placemats-stay tuned!
  • Silverplate flatware is an ebay find
  • The pumpkin is from TJM last year...love that color!
  • The crystal is Waterford Marquis.  Wine glasses are from my friend Joanne and I then purchased the waterglasses myself


Thank you for stopping by to see my autumn tablescape.  Thanks again to Susan at "Between Naps on the Porch".  If you didn't get here from there, be sure to click on her button up on the right and see amazing tablescapes!!!

Tess