MacKenzie-Childs Santa's Sleigh Table

Before everything gets put away 

I have to post my exquisite MC 

Santa's Sleigh table.  

This beautiful piece was the center 

of my kitchen table all through 

the holidays and it was where we 

ate Christmas morning breakfast.

I chose a hot pink petalled tablecloth 

to go with some of the ornaments in 

Santa's Sleigh and chose a stack of plates 

starting with a clear beaded plate, a 

scalloped MC plate and topped it with 

a delicate Christmas Tree plate. 

It was magical in my magical kitchen. 

This is the first time we used the MC goblets 

that I got at last year's Barn Sale.  

The sleigh is filled with vintage style ornaments 

and was a splurge from Mrs. Claus last year. 

I love the little deer tucked in and 

the beautiful ribbons.  

Everything is unbreakable, so although they 

look like glass ornaments, they are plastic. 

I know the sleigh will be coming 

out every year to grace our home.  

We always leave everything up until after 

my birthday in January.  

It is always sad to put everything away.  

The house always feels so naked, but 

soon I can decorate for Valentine's Day. 

Thanks for stopping by 

Purple Chocolat Home. 

I will be posting this with 

Tablescapes Thursday

Love Your Creativity 

Tales of the Traveling Tote #25 and A Giveaway

Welcome to our December version of 
Tales of the Traveling Totes where we 
MacKenzie-Childs loving women bring 
you along to the many places our totes 
travel with us. 

Today Miss Madi K and I headed north to 
visit the elves at 
Gardner Village for Christmas in the Village.
Here we found lots of Santa's helpers at work.   

We also found plenty of his helpers 

just goofing around.  

It was a cold but sunny day, a good day 
for catching a sighting of the many elves.

This little one and her helper baking 
gingerbread cookies was one of my favorites. 

We also fell in love with this little guy up 
on the ski lift.

Gardner Village is a quaint shopping and eating 
experience centered on the Old Gardner Mill. 
Historic homes and cabins have been moved 
to the site and they house retail shops.  

It is fun to just walk around the property, cross 
a couple of wooden bridges and be on the 
hunt for elves everywhere.  We enjoyed the magic 
of Christmas in the Village. 

We brought our own little Christmas helpers along. 

My daughter was on the hunt for 
Dept. 56 North Pole Village pieces.  Alas, 
the shop that used to carry them is no longer 
in business at Gardner Village.  We did a quick 
search on the internet and we quickly 
headed to another store and found plenty of 
North Pole Elf Houses. 

 

Haw's Floral is a magical spot that we had never 
visited before and 
Miss Madi K and I were especially drawn to 
this fabulous table and display.

Even though the store was no longer in business, 

we had fun seeing all of the elves, and we now 

have a fabulous new Christmas store to enjoy.  

You don't even have to leave home to have some 
fun,  just visit Sarah and Miss Merri Mac 
and leave a comment to win these fun 
MacKenzie-Childs Courtly Check party 
plates, napkins and straws.

Also visit the rest of our tote traveling group to see where they have been off to lately.
Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women  

 

Christmas Mickey and Minnie Cookies

Just a little hint at what theme the Christmas Eve table 

is going to be this year!

Grandma's little helpers came up to help decorate 

cookies!  I just had to grab a picture of them before 

we began and before they weren't quite as clean. 

I had the cookies baked and cooled and the frosting 

ready so their mom and I could get started.  

We wanted one for each place, so I did a double batch 

of cookies and frosting.  I got found with this delicious 

recipe from my friend Amy.

I discovered I can roll the dough out right 

after making it, between two pieces of parchment, cut,

place on parchment and freeze for 30 minutes and then bake 

for 8-9 minutes, and we are in business pretty quickly.  

I have two sizes and shapes of Mickey cookies, and a small 

bow mold.  

The bows added so much, so most of them turned out 

to be Minnie cookies.

My favorites ended up being the sparkly ones - 

no surprise huh?!!!

Well, come back later to see our table set for 

Christmas Eve, starring our favorite pals, 

Mickey and Minnie!  This table is for the kiddies!!

The Good News of Christmas

What Christmas means to me, despite all the hustle and 

bustle and wrappings and fun, the joy of His birth is 

what lights it all! 

Have a beautiful and merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Nutcracker Mantel

Welcome to Purple Chocolat Home - haha I just almost 

typed Purple Holiday Home - which it sure is!  

My favorite thing about Christmas is decorating my 

home.  Hubby loves it all so much, that he wants to 

fill our house with people and celebrate!  Sometimes 

he can think of way more parties than I can pull together, 

so we have to compromise on that.  

I decided I was going to cut back this year on buying 

anything new, and I was pretty successful.  So I 

was laying in bed thinking about my mantel, and 

decided to move some things around this year.  

These wonderful metallic painted nutcrackers 

were purchased at Home Goods about 4 years ago and 

have moved from spot to spot.  This year I decided 

to move them to the mantel.  While I was lying in bed 

pondering this, I wondered if I could put my champagne 

colored trees (from Hobby Lobby), that I have had for years

 up on the mantel with the nutcrackers.  I wasn't sure they 

would fit up there.

As you can see, our fireplace is so tall and generally my mantel 

decor has been dwarfed by the columns and mirror.  The trees 

fit perfectly on both shelves, and I think it is the most magical 

mantel I have created, without adding anything but a touch more 

of pink since last year.

I had the pink ribbons flowing down last year, and the 

beads are a soft pink, but I added the pink florals and the 

draping florals in pink this year. 

 I really love this, so I will probably do this 

again next year, or a variation of it with the trees 

lighting up the mantel.  

It truly is my one of my favorite spots in the house. 

Thanks for spending time with me this Christmas 

season!

A Night with the Shepherds Table 2019

Welcome to our home that we have transformed 

for a special night for our Young Single Adults, 

for a night in Bethlehem, A Night With The Shepherds.  

We greeted them in our outfits that we brought 

home from Israel years ago. 

Tables were set low on boxes and covered in 

purple satin tablecloths.  The stone floor was 

covered in various rugs so people could sit on the 

floor if they chose to.  Pillows were strewn around 

the edges.  Of course, the tree was lit, and lighting 

was kept soft and low. 

We have done a couple of dinners like this 

with our children, but this was on a much 

larger scale as we ended up having about 85 

people attend the dinner.  

Something new was to drape the room with 

purple, orange and hot pink fabric, and then 

to add lights to it.  We were trying to create 

a tent like feel. 

We had the stable made out of plywood about 30 years 

ago, and it has survived yearly use for our 

Christmas Eve Nativity.  I added the blue backdrop 

last year, and we tape it to the window and then backlight 

it.  We also had a custom made manger, but someone 

borrowed it and left it and it disappeared, so I 

purchased a kit online to make a new one a couple 

of years ago.  My collection of lambs gather around 

the manger.

Brass chargers were used on the table for food and 

disposable plates.  Electric candles softly lit the tables. 

I added greenery and grapes to the tables. One of the leaders 

walked in and just gasped.  He said he had been to a fancy 

restaurant in New York and the food had been served like 

this, on low tables.  

We had the food brought in from a restaurant in Salt Lake, 

Souvlaki.  They have the softest, most amazing pita, 

wonderful chicken kebabs, savory rice and a fabulous 

Mediterranean salad.  That made my job easier.

I just made the Chocolate Pistachio Baklava, and 

put out dates, nuts, grapes and some chocolate.  

And of course, prepped the house!  It was a huge hit, and the 

Young Single Adults ate and ate, and visited, and stayed into 

the late hours, enjoying our Bishopric Christmas Dinner. 

Tonight I have a home tour dinner party with 
my craft group, and rather than take all of the 
Bethlehem items down, we decided to remove 
the extra rugs, put some of the furniture back, 
but leave the draping, stable and low table.  They 
have all seen my house before, and we thought 
this would be a fun change for them. 

The food will be presented on the single low table 

tonight, and I added some purple pillows around the 

room to tie everything together.  Hope they enjoy it! 

Just one more big party after that, but I think I 

might leave the living room like this - the 

dramatic draping is just too fun!  Hubby is sooooo 

supportive and fun.

(If you are interested in this gorgeous throw,

click here.)

Thanks for coming to visit our Christmas party table.

I will be posting it with 

Tablescapes Thursday

and 

Love Your Creativity