Setting the Table for the Holidays!
/Styling & Story by Ginni Jones | Photography by Annabella Charles
'Tis the season to set the table! This holiday season we have realized it's more important than ever to spend time with our loved ones. For my family, that means gathering around the table for a lovely meal.
Keeping with the theme of "nothing being normal" this year, I decided to create a colorful and bright tablescape rather than the traditional red and green holiday setting. My inspiration was sparked by these "Twelve Days of Christmas" dessert plates from Anthropologie. For many years I have loved the work of watercolor artist Inslee Fariss. I found her, of course, on Instagram, and have been following her right from the beginning. When she posted these plates as a part of her collaboration with Anthropologie back in the summer, I knew I wanted to plan my whole Christmas tablescape around them. They are the cutest plates—a new take on the traditional twelve days of Christmas—complete with six geese a-laying, apres ski style, and more. When the plates arrived in the mail, I found they were even better in person. The plates are scalloped with a hand-painted gold edge, perfectly matching the scalloped gold edges of Herend china.
So I was off to Social, our local Herend distributors, to pick out the color palette that would accompany my adorable new plates. We went with rust, raspberry, fern and turquoise to best accent the plates. My final decision was to use the "Silk Ribbon" chargers with the corresponding "Chinese Bouquet" dinner plates.
Since I had a bright color palette going with raspberry, turquoise, fern and rust, I called my sweet friend at Spyglass Lane for some custom cocktail napkins. We selected a classic "cheers" as well as "merry & bright" with Christmas lights in the four bright hues from the color palette.
For the rest of the table, I kept it simple. Beautiful white hemstitched linen napkins, antique silver flatware, and my great grandmother's champagne coupes, only used for special occasions (aka 2020)!
Decking the halls
was super simple this year thanks to my favorite floral shop, Garden District. In addition to creating stunning floral arrangements year round, they are masters at decorating for the holidays.
Our table is long; 10 feet long, to be exact, so I fastened two strands of artificial pinecone garland from Garden District together to create the perfect centerpiece. (TIP: I always add a few springs of fresh greens to the artificial garland to make it look even more realistic!) I tucked in gold candlesticks and the table was set.
On the sideboard, I love to mix and match clusters of bottle brush trees. Also sourced from Garden District, the silver trees paired nicely with the antique silver flatware on the table and the bright green trees, which also light up, were the perfect bright take on traditional Christmas green.
Shop Local
If ever there was a time to shop locally, 2020 is it. We know this year has been rough for everyone, especially small business owners. This Christmas, even though it will be a small family get-together, we are still dressing as if we were having a big Christmas Eve party. I'll be cocktail party (I wish) ready in this Tish Cox navy taffeta Sheridan top from Oak Hall. And to complete the outfit, I’ll be sporting my favorite stack of Oak Hall Collection oxidized sterling silver and diamond bracelets.
Plan
your menu ahead of time. This year, make it a priority to outsource some items from local restaurants. In our house, we will be ordering the sweets from 17 Berkshire Bakery.
Nuha Abuduhair, the owner and baker at 17 Berkshire, plans the most creative holiday menus when it comes to the dessert department. For tarts, cakes, macarons, cupcakes and more, I highly suggest visiting her in Overton Square for your holiday treats.
wishing
you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas! May you fill this time with happy, healthy and wonderful memories as you spend the season with your quarantine crew. And may you finish 2020 on one special note!
see y'all next year! xoxo, ginni jones
