Christmas Eve Blues

Welcome to our home.  I invite you in to

share our Christmas Eve celebration. 

For those who have been following 

Purple Chocolat Home 

for a while, you know that our family 

is growing and that I love to have them 

all together in the living room for big

meals.  We lovingly call it the Great Hall.

We move the furniture out and set up our

big parties here.

Christmas Eve is a formal event, and so the tables

are formal.  Tonight we used one eight foot table

for the adults,

and one six foot with multiple heights,

for the children.  The first time we used the

short table with child sized Chiavari chairs,

the kids were so excited.  They love their own

table.

The white Chiavari chairs are great because

they stack so neatly in the basement.

The inspiration for our table this year comes

from my new salad/dessert plates by Noritake.

As soon as I saw them I was smitten.  They have a

raised effect on the ornaments.  They come with a silver

or gold rim.  I chose the silver.

I didn't realize until I received them, that they

also had pale aqua on them, notice the bow at

the bottom of the tree, so I decided to create

a stack with a sparkling gold charger and pale

aqua plates that I already had.

Gold flatware and aqua stemware were added to 

complete the placesetting.

I created floral centerpieces for both tables.

I love the use of fresh flowers on the tables.

It makes the tables extra special.

My flowers were all purchased from Costco.

The tables had white tablecloths with fur runners

going down the center.

You can see the Christmas tree tucked into

the corner of the living room.

I just love how the table turned out this year.'

I used these Willow Chair covers that I

already had.  They really add to the table to

make it special.

My aqua goblets with the twisted clear stems

were purchased in Cabo.

My favorite part of decorating for Christmas Eve

is creating a surprise and hearing everyone's

comments, so their wrapped pajamas

decorated the staircase.

There were lots of oohs and aahs for the staircase

and the tables.  Even my sons commented on

how beautiful the plates were - now that is something!

Before we begin, we always take everyone's picture.

With 23 of us, it is always a big undertaking, but

this year I heard more compliments than I usually do,

and that makes it worth it.

The menu has been the same for years,

King Crab, tenderloin, arugula salad,

and sourdough bread, along with

artichokes for appetizers and

sparkling cider.

Then comes the fun of pajamas!

Grandma requires photos before we

open a few gifts.  Most gifts are Christmas

morning, but we have some exciting gifts

Christmas Eve so they don't get lost in the gifts

of the morning.

And this year, we had a new special angel, only 

ten days old.  That was the best gift of all!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Thanks for taking time to visit our family here.

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Join us for Christmas Eve 2016

Have a seat at our table for Christmas Eve 2016.

It is set all in sparkling gold with white this year,

and angel wings decorate the chairs.

I found these dishes at Home Goods last year, featuring

creamy white with a gold trim.

The stack is topped with these individual

cupcake stands, topped with an Almond Rum Ball

in a gold foil cup.  These are the family favorite.

 This year we have a surprise, we have a little table

with mini chiavari chairs for the ten little ones.

I love to have surprises for them that they don't

know anything about.  We have always set up a really

long table for everyone to sit at, but after seeing these

mini chairs, I decided we would try a small table.

I just set the table height at the shortest for them.

They have inexpensive goblets from the dollar

store, so we don't have to worry if they get broken.

The adult table has more expensive goblets

rimmed with gold.

Gold flatware is used for every placesetting.  

 Both tables are adorned with gold sequined tablecloths,

and I used an icy looking runner down the center of the

kids' table.

The adult table center has a gold garland.

Both were adorned with large gold jingle bells.

Real gold and white striped candles

are on the adult table.

 Electric candles were placed inside the beaded

cones for pretty night lighting.

Here is a view of the children's chairs.  

Click here to find them on Amazon.

They are just like the adult chair, only mini sized.

They are white resin and stack, so they are easy to

store.

One final view from up above, before the gala

dinner started.   

Appetizers began with a Petit Basque

made into ruffles with a Girolle Cheese Scraper.

I got mine years ago at our local Harmon's Grocery Store.

We always have to have steamed artichokes

as part of our appetizers.

Christmas Eve is always king crab legs

and grilled tenderloins.

Dessert was our Mango Ice Cream Balls,

set in a bed of whipped cream snow, with a

chocolate tree and a mini gingerbread house.

We always ask the family to dress up nice.

The little people went crazy over their mini table,

and proposed a toast all on their own.

After opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa, they 

open Christmas pajamas and we take a family photo.

We squeezed in all 21 of us.  What a joy to have them

all live close by and to be able to share Christmas

with them.

It was a wonderful evening.  

Look at my Instagram page.

Jacquelinekayes,

to see the grandkids' reaction to their

Christmas bunkroom.

I hope you had a magical Christmas too.

I will be posting with

Tablescapes Thursday

A Renaissance Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas Eve we mixed it up

a little and changed the Great Room into

a Renaissance dining room.

After removing the couch and some chairs and the coffee and sofa

table, we set up a long table in front of the fireplace.

About ten years ago we had created a Renaissance dinner

like this and my three youngest had dressed up as

serving girls and pages and served our adult friends

as we sat to dinner. 

We had Mannheim Steamroller music on the other day

and my two youngest boys were saying how much

they had loved that and wished they had been

able to sit at the Renaissance table.

So of course we decided to surprise everyone with 

a

Renaissance Dinner

for Christmas Eve this year.

We had a beautiful tapestry type fabric that we had used

for the first dinner and we placed it over two

folding tables.

The dinner was to be utensilless.

The center of the table was decked out with fresh

and silk greenery and three candelabras.

The look kept changing as the sun was setting, giving

such a pretty glow to everything.

I even captured some of the blue hour in photos.

We used an assortment of pewter goblets and

bowls.  They were so pretty with the reflection

of the candles and fireplace on them.

The soup was to be drunk from the bowls.

We had to laugh because the little children

didn't like that idea and

  ran to the kitchen to get spoons.

I thought they would love to drink their soup.

We served sparkling apple juice in the goblets.

It was fun to hear the oohs and aahs as they came through

the door.

A twelve foot table was a beautiful and grand presentation.

After the soup, 

they were served cornish game hens and potato wedges.

Once they understood that the game hens weren't baby chickens,

they loved eating this with their hands.

Our traditional Christmas Eve dish is king crab legs

and sourdough bread.  

We did allow kitchen shears to be used to help

with the crab.

It ended up being a very magical evening and it

was so fun to have all fifteen (plus 2 infants)

around the long table.  

Dessert was chocolates and  an assortment of goodies.

We finished with a live Nativity acted out by the children

and presents.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours.

I will be posting with

Let's Dish

Tablescape Thursday