Week 52, 12-18-2016

Thoughts and Quotes: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

                                                                     Isaiah 9:6 King James Version

In one week we will be celebrating Christmas. Whatever your religion, this is a time to come together and celebrate the spirit of Christmas - a time of wonder, of magic, of dreams. This is a time to celebrate love of our family and friends, and also our blog buddies. This is a time to pray for a world of peace so that no child has to hear bombs dropping into his city, no wife-mother-father-child has to be told that husband-son-father will not be coming home because he was killed in a senseless war. This is a time for fun and presents and lights and music and trees and special food and all the traditions which fill the holiday season. I hope you enjoy every minute of this blessed time of year.

Time to Celebrate: "She believed she could, so she did." R.S. Grey
  
That's me! I did it! This post will finish one whole year. I've enjoyed every minute, every comment, every compliment. I think I'll do it again. 

Tablescapes: Sally and Steg outgrew their house, but they liked the location so they moved to a larger house across the lake (not a very big lake in the middle of our subdivision), and lucky me - I got to buy the house they were vacating. Not only do I love the house, I love Sally and Steg.

This week was Sally's turn to host her Bunco group. They serve dinner before they play and dessert after. They usually use disposable tableware, but since this was Christmas, we did her three tables with real dishes. The dining room table and two card tables.

Sally's tree looked beautiful.

One of the desserts was worth a photo.

Tips: I'd like to share an easy and inexpensive way to set a card table. I thing the best place for buying table linens is The Tablecloths Factory (click here). Their focus seems to be weddings and banquets, but I find the perfect things for card tables.

A 70" square cloth works with most card tables (yes, the size can vary), and the corners will come just to the floor. The basic polyester tablecloths come in black, white, and ivory and the current price is $3.74 each. They launder very nicely.

Card tables are not large enough for placemats, so I buy a table runner. Right now they're selling for 76 cents each. They come in thirty colors. They're 12" wide and 108" long. You buy one per table and cut them in half. This means that you need to hem one end on each piece. Hey! It's only 12". Easy peasy. The quality is not good, so you might want to buy two. This way you'll have backup in case someone spills and you want to use them again. I hand wash them because the hems tend to ravel.

The matching napkins come in sets of five for $2.29 per set. Where else can you buy a napkin for 46 cents? They're made of polyester, launder nicely, need only touch up ironing (if any), and match the runners really well. I've bought them in several colors, and always found the color match to be true.

These tables are from a tea at the library, and you can see how well they match.

Or you can use two different colors.

Another library tea where you can see the length of the tablecloths and also how the runners look.

Thrifting: I have service for eight dishes in ivory and white, a couple of sets which look like Autumn and one which looks like Blue Willow. Other sets which serve eight have pink, yellow, or purple flowers, mostly pink sets. Men do not like to eat from flowered dishes. I'm doing Sally's table for Supper Eight in January, so I'll do white and metallic gold, but what next? I decided to start watching Craigslist and found this set for $15. It's not great quality, but no nicks or scratches. It will work. Just what we need: dinner plates, bowls and smaller plates for salad and dessert. No one drinks coffee or tea, so cups and saucers aren't needed. And I might use them for 4th of July.

I knew these bowls were from Portugal the minute I saw them. $1 each at a thrift store.

I thought this little girl would be cute at Thanksgiving. I like her crow. 50 cents at a thrift store.

Yes, this is plastic, but with a white napkin, it will work for the bread on St. Patrick's Day.
Only 25 cents at the same thrift store.

Placemats $1 each at Dollar Tree. They're a sort of tapestry.

In the past I bought holly glasses at Dollar Tree. This year I found plates, bowls, and mugs. I love Dollar Tree because they mean it - everything is $1. They're not bone china, but the quality is decent. And they match the glasses.

Tasting: Martha, Nancy and I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. Thursday is turkey day - wonderful turkey breast, with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce and corn muffins. And they always have fun things in the shopping area. I found these cute salt and pepper shakers for $1.98 for the pair.They always have cute salt and peppers for $1.98.

And Friday Katie and I went to F-D Grill to celebrate her birthday. We had key lime pie in lieu of birthday cake.

The Pepper Report: So far, so good. No collar yet, and healing is progressing. I tried to get a photo, but he wants to rub against me instead. This boy loves to be petted.

Travel: Time to hit the road. We have a local travel company where I can meet the bus at a Springfield hotel (20 minute drive), leave my car there, and off we go. I've signed up for three trips in 2017.  In July I'll be going to North Dakota - the only state I've never visited. The trip is here. 

Then five days to visit Cajun Country at the beginning of December here.

One night home and then leave for four days of Christmas Around the World here.

Teas: Winter tea on Tuesday, December 20 for my cooking friends.

'Tis the Season: To set the mood, we had our first snowfall last night.This morning looked like this:

I made more cards:

My niece went to one of those ceramics shops where you paint the item and they fire it for you. She started with this:

And ended with this.

And her roommate, Trish, painted a plate:

And Martha decorated. You saw the dinner tables last week, and you saw her Autumn decorations.

Family Room

Breakfast Area

Dining Room

Living Room

Stairs

Music Room

Lower Level

HAPPY WINTER

MERRY CHRISTMAS

HAPPY HANUKKAH

WORK ON YOUR GOALS

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE