don't?
Dress the Christmas table with lots of pretentious home made nicknacks. I saw this week in a magazine a hanging for chair backs made out of tinfoil turkey trays cut into oak leaves then baked in the oven to age and dull them. As I looked it occurred to me... does anyone actually go to all this faff? My next thought was how uncomfortable they would be digging into your back as you sat next to great Auntie Grace and listened to her cracking on about concerts she had performed at. Getting out of her capacious handbag a hank of her hair back in the day when she a) actually had some and b)the colour was then of corn rippling in the warm summer sun, as opposed to the wiry badger’s bum grey she was sporting that Christmas day.
I must at this point put my hands up and confess to a little light pretentiousness back when I was style over substance and keen to ‘set the scene’ by strewing leaves, acorns, tangerines, chocolate pennies, liqueur chocolates and the like across the festive table with gay abandon! As I got older I would get himself to polish the candelabra, which for all his hard work I then cover up with ivy and tiny silver balls. The silver plated surface has long gone and I love the dull pewter peeping through like a mouse deciding to brave the security of his house in order to harvest the dropped crumbs of Christmas pud, maybe a crispy bit of roast parsnip the dog has missed. The fun for me is setting the scene, planning the menus, cooking the meal... the worst bit is the blooming guests, who always take up more space than you imagine they will. Also since you last saw them have developed a gluten intolerance, oh and by the way will only eat animals that not only are free range but have lived a long and fulfilled life, died naturally... naturally! This I actually have had said to me in my past life as a chef! How I stopped myself from embedding the cleaver into their empty head I will never know?
Being older and wiser I now think this little dish given to me by my son long ago sums up what sitting down to share food is all about.
Being older and wiser I now think this little dish given to me by my son long ago sums up what sitting down to share food is all about.
Our Christmas table has christmassy place mats, christmassy serving dishes, some poinsetta napkin rings with christmassy napkins inserted and a cracker each and thats it! We put all the veg etc in the middle of the table so there's no room for nicnacs, I once tried to put a candle in the middle but it got shunted in favour of the bottle of wine! I do however decorate the house from top to bottom with christmas ornaments, trees etc so there's no mistaking the time of year here! On Christmas eve I have our children and their partners/children over for dinner and we all get a little present to open too. It's always to be £5 or less and the sillier the better. It's a lovely time of year isn't it.
ReplyDeleteI do often wonder too about gluten free, vegan etc. In the olden days there didn't seem to be so many people with 'food issues' what changed? xx
All sounds such fun, I love the idea of the silly presents for under a fiver. Reminds me of my working at our local doctors surgery, you drew a name out of a hat and bought that person a present no more than a fiver. I mistakenly thought it had to be a fun pressie. The name I drew was the head receptionist who was a total snob and always cracking on about wearing suspenders and stockings to keep her husband happy. My idea was to get her some tacky suspenders as a joke(!?!) They were received with a frosty stare, her hubby would have been out for luck for the entire festive season on the strength of it! She had also drawn my name and I got a lovely candle lighter which each evening we use to light our candles for supper. Occasionally I have a qualm, one of my many over the years of getting it so wrong!?!
DeleteLX
I love bowls like that. I have a lovely hand thrown bowl, about that size. It's the cat's water bowl. It's an important bowl, but then, it's an important cat. His food bowl is hand thrown, too.
ReplyDeleteThat bowl is a beautiful hand thrown one from a very posh shop in Stonegate a very old street running up to York minster. Those were the days when I lived in York, a beautiful city.
DeleteV.I.C. a worthy recipient of a beautiful bowl, just hope he realises?
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I was awake in the night worrying about how I was going to decorate the Xmas table! This year we have to find the large piece of plywood that we used many years ago and put it on top of the antique oval table that only seats 8 as we shall be 10 ! My DIL did tell me I could use a single sheet as a table cloth, but then what? I am unlikely to be making any " home made nicknacks " ! Any suggestions gratefully received .
ReplyDeleteYou need to get out more Frances! Single sheet, brilliant idea, a few chocolate pennies, a pomegranate, artfully trailing ivy, maybe a songbird in a beautiful wire cage, buckets of ice overflowing with Krug... keep it simple is my motto...
DeleteLX
Well going back to the dogs bowl. Our Lucy has a very heavy green Japanese water bowl (used for paste making), which hopefully she cannot pick up and throw across the kitchen but she does of course when the mood is on her.
ReplyDeleteProbably toilet roll tubes and crepe paper. They will be part of the imaginative creations made with love by the grandchildren!
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