What and When Holiday Decor

Looks wonderful.....hope the neighbors have a great time! I have china I never use, because it can't go in the dishwasher...it's called Harlow, so I'm thinking grandson will inherit.....

Those are lovely, JoAnn!! Hope you enjoy your holiday party!!

"chinet"....that's funny, Allison. I think I told you all how I got my pretty Thanksgiving china....my son, Mike, bought me the first plate for Christmas one year when he was a very young boy. It is expensive, and it took all of his savings. It is an Oriental Imari pattern and I loved it, so for years he would buy me different pieces until I now have enough to set a table. It has great sentiment to me, because it is such a perfect example of his generous and thoughtful nature. I also love the square plates and have some depression glass square luncheon plates that I use often. I don't think you need to have expensive china to set a beautiful table.

Bill - that's such a sickening feeling I would imagine to hear the breakage, especially if the pieces had some sentimental meaning attached to them.

What a sweet son, Louise!

We're not onto fancy here.

Love it JoAnn!!!!
We didn't get any real fancy dishes I went with white Pfaltzgraff
http://www.pfaltzgraff.com/Filigree/FILGR,default,sc.html

I do have some crystal pieces from hubby's grandparents but no china

the china my mil got for us as a wedding present that she found at home goods at great deal - still remember sneaking out the huge box into our car behind my fil back (she didn't want him to know what she spent) - it was a keystone cops affair - cindy had to distract him and my sometimes goofy mil was giving me directions to get them out and telling me to hurry up - so sorry those are gone - would have brought back memories later in life.

That's funny, Bill! It is a different day in terms of picking out china and silver patterns, etc. Things are much more casual and I like that, but I still enjoy using the china I have once in awhile, mainly because all of it is sentimental and pretty.

Thanks, Marilyn. I agree...he's very special. Here is a shot of the china he gave me. :)

fancy!!

nice pATTY.

good deal at target...can buy online with free shipping over $50.00

Jen - I like your filigree white pattern. That can look great anytime, whether casual everyday or dressed up with cloth napkins and flowers, etc. Good choice!

Thanks for that info, Allison! Lots of places have free shipping now, with some limitations. I have already done a lot of Christmas shopping online. No way would you ever see me at 4:00 a.m. at any store!!! Nuts! I am not a shopper....hate the crowds. One good thing about a B & N membership is that the shipping is always free. That's well worth the $25 fee in a year's time for me. LLBean is another one I like with free shipping.

Randy and I were going to brave it out tomorrow morning.. but we said NAHHHHHHHH.... did some shopping online... now I am done

Cool. What are the babies getting for Christmas??? :)

Love that china, Louise....one of my friends has it...makes dinner very festive. I'm not a shopper....have done most of it online already.

I'm not a shopper either Marilyn.
We drew Secret Santa names yesterday. The college age grand kids are now part of the draw. We put a $20.00 limit on the gift.
I buy something for the house in lieu of gifts for DD and SIL.

That's smart....wish I could make my son get me a gift card to Stop & Shop or the gas station!

Thanks, Marilyn! I like it too. My son will inherit it, of course. :) He likes it too. It says "Thanksgiving" to him.

JoAnn - that sounds like some common sense has invaded your family at the holidays. I don't go for teaching kids through excess that that's what is important in life. They can easily get that message from inundation of gifts parents can't really afford. Good parenting is really hard, isn't it?

Spent the day(since it's so yucky outside) switching my fall decor to winter/snowmen decor...nothing to Christmasy yet...that's phase 2.

Patty : absolutly

Sounds like you're organized, Jen. Phases! Wow. ^_^

Impressive! :)

Organized or just insane. LOL

Here's a collection of my snowmen

and I even have towels

Soap dispenser in different bathroom(I also have 2 others that need new pumps)

and even have pictures

Very nice, Jen!! Do your kids get excited when you put them out?

Oh yeah, their like" oh I remember this!!!"

Nice Jen! I love snowmen and have few too.
We got all the fall stuff down and away today and cleaned up the front. It was really cold and windy today. Hopefully tomorrow we will get the wreaths and lights out. Started in the house last night. Every year I say I'm going to cut back and never do. We may downsize our tree this year though.

Nice, Jen, but they are officially known as snowpersons now. Wish I were joking.

I love snowmen too!!
I was born in 1960, they are snowmen to me :)

They will ALWAYS be snowmen to me!

DH's neice collects Santas. We send one each year & it gets to sit in the middle of the mantle until the following yr. Jumper 2 has 'New England Village' enough pieces so they sit out all yr. Her sisters have byers carolers & Santons the creche figures from France. She loved them there but could not afford to bring any home. Collected here, one by one. the person who owned the store is retired now, so that was the end of her collection.

Made a candle ring today, my first attempt to do anything with greens besides lay them on the windowseat. I was really pleased with how it turned out. I used a wire ring to help keep it together.

Then I tried to figure out how to put lights on the small pine by the walk, but the extension cord would have to go across the walk, which seemed sure to make people trip (not to mention make it hard to shovel. The only solution seems to be solar lights. Do they work in the north in the winter? Has anyone used them for outdoor Christmas decorations?

Beautiful Ge! Are those juniper berries?

I like the snowmen too!!!

Jen - do you have any of the snowbaby tree ornaments?

Cute snowpeople, & love the candle ring....my solar lights worked for about a year! I volunteered at our church tonight for Light Up the Town....here's a photo of the church...no one did the luminarias this year :(

And our Opera House/Town Hall......

Very pretty, Marilyn. We do luminaria in our neighborhood here on Christmas Eve. There are 7 streets in our neighborhood, and a few of the men volunteer every year to place the luminaries on each sidewalk seam up and down every street. It is really beautiful and cars come from all over to drive through the 'hood. Don't feel sorry for the guys who do it. They have quite a party in the back of one of the lawn care "trailers" while setting them out. :)