Catherine’s Comments–Have a Holly Jolly Christmas Table Setting from Catherine Castle

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A Groom for Mama, author Catherine Castle, Catherine's Comments, Christmas table settings, crafts, dishes, essay

Today’s table setting will be short and sweet, since I don’t yet have any Christmas decorations up, except for my front door wreath and silk holly and poinsettia in the pot on the porch. And yes, I have no shame over filling my porch pots with silk flowers, no matter the season. But I digress.

The items you’ll need for this cheery table setting are a red tablecloth (I used a vinyl tablecloth) preferably printed with hollies; four contrasting placements (I used green since 2 of my plates are red and I wanted them to pop against the red tablecloth), red and green napkins; a square, or round, printed Christmas gift box; four silk holly flowers; four battery operated tea candles; a white taper candle and a low, secure candle holder for the taper; and of course your mismatched red and white dishes, glasses, and eating utensils.

As always, these choices can be changed to fit what you might have in your cupboard. If you’re  using white plates against a red tablecloth, there is no need to use a contrasting placemat to make the dishes pop. If you don’t have a red tablecloth, forego that item and use placemats. Like the dishes, mix and match the other items to create what works for your table. The main feature in this setting is the simple centerpiece using an unexpected item–the Christmas gift box.

This is one of the fastest table settings to put up. Just find your Christmas box, put your taper and candleholder in the center of the box and fit the silk holly sprigs around the candle. If you plan to light the taper be sure to use a bobeche to catch the wax drippings or put the candle in the freezer ahead to help prevent drips. Because the centerpiece didn’t show well against my red tablecloth I added one of the gold poinsettia placemats from last week’s table setting to give the centerpiece the extra pizazz I needed.  Place your tea candles around the centerpiece, one candle at the head of each place setting, set the table, and wait for the compliments.

I hope you’ve found some inspiration in the Christmas table settings I made this month. I won’t be blogging about table settings on Christmas, but I’m planning one more winter table setting. Come back January 8, 2021 for my Winter Wonderland table setting. I can hardly wait to show you this one! In the meantime, take a peek at my romantic comedy with a touch of drama, and have a safe, blessed and Happy Christmas!

Catherine

A Groom for Mama

By Catherine Castle

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

Buy link Amazon  Barnes and Noble

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Catherine’s Comments—A Festive Candy Cane Table Setting from Catherine Castle

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A Groom for Mama, Catherine Castle author, Catherine's Comments, Christmas table settings, clean romance, Holiday table settings, romantic comedy, Sweet romance

Christmas is fast approaching!

Only 21 days!

This holiday has always been a big deal at my house. When I was younger I’d change out all the knickknacks, take pictures off the wall and exchange them for more Christmassy themes, and deck the house out to the hilt.

I don’t quite go to those extremes anymore, as arthritic knees and a bad back have slowed me down. But, every year I put up a different themed Christmas tree. either special ornaments from our childhood and family and friends, Southwest themed, crocheted stars and tiny metal candle holders with little red candles, the simplicity of poinsettias in the branches, gold travel ornaments from places we’ve visited, all white, all red, and whatever else I can think up. Or, I might put up my fiber optic tree, or the vintage aluminum tree my husband inherited from his grandmother, complete with color wheel. On occasion I’ve had them all up at the same time.

My sideboard can groan under the weight of my Christmas village, my Nativity collection, My Southwest Christmas figurines, or I could just have a rustic collection of candles and Christmas décor.  I fill every available pot and vase I can with silk Poinsettias and holly.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I have lots and lots of tree and Christmas decorations. My Christmas décor obsession is as bad as or worse than my dish fetish.

My table is no different. Most of the time I use my Corelle holly plates, but recently I’ve been venturing out into different table settings. I think it has something to do with the ease of setting a holiday table. Unlike the Christmas village which takes a couple of days to set just right, my dinner table goes up in a much shorter time—once I decide what I’ll do, that is.

Some of my blog readers have requested more table settings. So, I’m going to show off my new combinations in the coming weeks. In the upcoming posts I’ll be featuring tablecloths, placemats, napkin rings and Christmas decorations I’ve pulled from my decoration stash—and of course the mix and match dishes that started this whole blog series.

First up is a Festive Candy Cane Table. This would be a cute table setting for the kids’ table, or as a more casual adult setting. You could also surprise the family on a December night with this cheerful table setting. After all, the Christmas season lasts for a month. Why wait until Christmas Day or Eve to celebrate the season?

Here’s how I made this table setting: I started with an inexpensive plastic striped tablecloth I picked up a few years ago from our local Big Lots discount store. Then I added red and white plates and white salad bowls—some of the same dishes I’ve used in previous table settings.

I kept the centerpiece festive and kid friendly with a metal spiral tree decoration. The candle at the base of the tree is a faux battery lit candle, a safer choice for the children’s table, and it won’t destroy the charming ornaments suspended from the spiral branches. To make the centerpiece pop and pick up the green in the table cloth, I centered the tree on a round woven placemat. If you don’t have a plethora of placemats, like I do—another obsession of mine—you could use a green napkin, or two napkins set at 45 degree angles to each other to form an eight-point star. For a little more festive flair I created contrasting red and white bows from pipe cleaners and scattered them on the place mat.

To continue the candy cane theme I made candy canes from red and white pipe cleaners.

To make the pipe cleaner candy canes, twist a red and white pipe cleaner together from top to bottom the form the cane. To form the loop that holds the napkin, gently bend the pipe cleaner in half. Align about 1/4^th of the bent section with the bottom of the cane, then fold the straight remaining section at a 90 degree angle to the cane. Wrap it around your finger to form a circle. Loop the end of the circle around the cane to secure the circle and form the napkin holder section. Curve the top of the cane into a loop so it looks like a candy cane. Roll up your napkin to fit in the circle and arrange the cane so the top is level with the napkin edge.

If you don’t have any pipe cleaners, you could tie a ribbon around a real candy cane and then loosely wrap and tie the napkin in the ribbon. I didn’t have any candy canes, but I did have pipe cleaners so I improvised. Have I mentioned that I’m a crafter, too? I have lots of interesting things in my basement. 🙂

Lay your candy cane napkin in the center of your plate to finish off the table setting, and invite the family and friends to dinner!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Festive Candy Cane Table Setting, and I hope I’ve inspired you to set a fun and festive table at one of your Christmas holiday meals. Come back next week for another Christmas Table Setting.

Happy Holidays,

Catherine

If you enjoyed Catherine’s creative holiday table settings, why not check out one of her creative books. Her award-winning sweet, romantic comedy, with a touch of drama A Groom for Mama is a fun read and would make a great gift for the romance novel lover in your family. Here’s a peek at the blurb.

A Groom for Mama

By Catherine Castle

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

A Groom for Mama is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing, reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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