Santa Inspired Place Setting & Tablescape

Christmas is my favorite time of year. If you follow along with the blog, you know that Stacey and I are out in AZ. We’re in the Phoenix area so not much snow here. That’s not to say we don’t get snow but it does melt as soon as it comse in contact with the ground and it’s not that often. I grew up moving around a lot and we lived near Boston and Detroit for a few years. Every year without fail we would have a white Christmas. It wasn’t always a lot of snow but it was enough to make it look beautiful outside. I’ve missed that and wanted my kids to enjoy that at some point too. Well, this year as the big family Christmas present my parents are renting a big cabin for us to all stay in Flagstaff. That’s north of here and in the mountains where we have a much better chance of having a white Christmas! Cross your fingers for us because I am so excited!

I know a lot of people put up their Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving but I was hosting and felt that I should decorate for Thanksgiving for Thanksgiving. I did put my Mom and Dad to work decorating as soon as Thanksgiving was over though! Thanks guys, 😉  We have collected a lot of Christmas over the last few years. My Mom is the best. She would go to Home Goods after Christmas and pick up a bunch of stuff for us for the next year at really good great prices. We have a small attic that is just the space above our garage but it’s filled with all of the Christmas stuff. With that said there is always room to improve every year.

This year I am really into Santa belly decorations. I decided to finally get the red chargers at Target that I had been debating for YEARS. I’m not really sure why it took me so long but they’re plastic and were kind of pricey. (Huh, I guess I do know why.)  Today on my trip into the Danger Zone (Target’s Christmas section) I saw that they were on clearance for $2 so I felt like it was a sign to buy. 🙂  So then I HAD to get the black napkins, right, and then to top it all off I had inherited some silver napkin rings from my Mom a few years back. Don’t you just love when things fall into place.

The tablescape was put together with different things I’ve collected over the years. The two “candle holders” are really planters turned upside down. Then I have a mix of ornaments and place card holders that look like ornaments, trees and snow globes mixed around the table. I then drizzled the gold bead garland around. For the centerpiece, I a green candle inside the vase and then filled it in with shredded plastic “snow” and sprinkled some cranberries and jingle bells on top. I  I love that the table is so colorful and kind of childlike but with a grownup take. That’s one of the things I love about Christmas. Both kids and adults get excited this time of year and have so much fun together. I love sharing family traditions with my kids and starting new traditions. I love getting to experience the Christmas of my childhood through my kids eyes. It’s the best!

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