Christmas Party Decorating

My Friend Linda had a party the other night at her lovely home. I couldn't help myself. I had to take some pictures of her decorating magic.

Pretty kitchen centerpieces on the beautiful granite island. 

My friend Linda, the hostess of the baby shower/Christmas party. 

I loved the blooming amaryllis plant and some of her other crystal Christmas plates and platters. 

The kitchen is so open and has great features. She changes out the decorative plates for each season. In the summer time it has navy and white and silver touches. For Christmas time she has red and white and silver. I loved all of her polka dot embellishments, candles and ribbons.

Christmas china was displayed in the pretty built in hutch in the kitchen....

The starfish is a really pretty addition to the baubles and ornaments in red and silver....

Pretty kitchen cabinetry and tiles looked so fresh in black and white and silver.  

I have a cake plate just like this one below that I never use. It just sits in my china cabinet. Now I'm going to pull it out and make something cute with it! I feel so inspired right now! (let's see how I do on the weekend when I actually have time to work on the decor....)

Cake plate with silver and red and white ornaments looked adorable! 

What a pretty bunch of baubles! I bet anybody could make a glass jar look pretty. But these are really artistic.

So simple yet so beautiful.....silver and red.....

She was giving a shower for a friend at church who had adopted a cute little Asian baby boy. He is really adorable. They hadn't arrived while I shot photos or I'd have a cute picture of them both!!

The theme of the shower had Asian-inspired foods like Chinese Chicken Salad, egg rolls, and homemade fortune cookies with the little boy's name tucked inside them. These fortune cookies dipped in chocolate were made by another talented friend, Aimee Ferre of Olive Branch Design. Check out her latest design website called A Garnished Life. She is also a master of design. The little Asian panda bear cookies and candies were so cute as embellishments to the food table. Everything just sparkled and was set off by red polka dotted linens. And I bet she uses them at Valentines Day too! 

My latest purchase; a pretty pointsettia table runner covered with red sequins....I couldn't resist when I saw it at Home Goods for $15.00. Gotta love a bargain! Woot! 

 I just bought a new red runner with sequins on it from Home Goods. (One of my fav stores for decor!) I needed it to go on my formal dining room table with some creme colored placemats with little red cardinal birds and holly berries.  But as you can see I haven't done anything with it yet. I got a few cool light bulbs too and I just need to figure out what to do with them....hmmm...

I have a whole setting of these Snowmen plates from Kohls. My favorite color is red, you can tell. 

And I found this snowmen plate and cookie jar set that perfectly match my Christmas China from Kohls. But I got them from the thrift store for a $1 buck each! What a find! OK, back to the party!

There was a really pretty punch bowl with yummy punch in it as well as this decorated water dispenser with limes and cranberries. So creative! 

Pretty Silver punch bowl with a yummy slushy drink inside! Mmmm....My daughter bought me one of these last year. I loved it. Maybe I'll get it out and use it this year. (gotta have a party!) 

These polka dotted candles were my very favorites. I didn't get a good picture of them but they were so pretty lit up with the little glittery, red gems sprinkled close by. 

 On either side of the fireplace Linda had her nutcracker collection. I have another friend Laurie Rainey who collects nutcrackers too. She has more than 100 of them. She also lives down the street. We should all go talk nutcrackers sometime over lunch! lol. My collection is much smaller than either of these gals. But I do appreciate a cute collection!!

I wish I had taken some close ups of the darling tree. There were tiny square photos of all her grandchildren on the tree amidst silver and red baubles, pinecones, silvery glittered branches and snowflakes. It had a Diet Coke ornament on it too!! (I like this lady even more now!). So cute!! The gifts were all baby shower gifts. Christina, guest of honor, got like 10 times this amount. I snapped these shots before the party started. 

I LOVED the little missionary set of nutcrackers on the top right shelf. Super cute! I'd never seen missionary nutcrackers anywhere before! Gotta get a cute set like that!  I loved the polka dotted ribbons and bows. It added a touch of whimsy to a beautifully decorated tree.

This was her music room. I loved this room. Enough said there. Just stunning. 

Front entry hall with a giant wreath displayed where her big family picture usually hangs. Gorgeous! 

I loved this black cabinet that reminded me of an old player piano we used to have. It houses more pretty Christmas figurines and decor. 

Loved this Santa and his funny quote. Do you think if I had one it would guilt me into avoiding those Christmas candies and cookies? I think not......but it's worth a try! (sounds of snickering)

This was my favorite fun thing she had in her kitchen. It is a candy station for when her grandchildren come over to visit. There were little scoops in each candy bin and a little container of Christmas bags to fill with our candy choices that she offered each of us before we left. Super cute. She changes out the candy to different kinds for each season. I popped a giant lime bubble gum ball in my mouth on the way out. Yum. 

Thanks for opening your home for such a fun celebration! And congrats to Kristina! We loved meeting your new little one!

Thanksgiving Foods I Love!

CRANBERRY CILANTRO SALSA....great for a Holiday Party! 

Cranberry Salsa on Cream Cheese Dip. check out the recipe HERE.

I've been cooking myself into a food coma these past few days. I had the missionaries over tonight and made a ham and cheesy potatoes and pecan tarts. I also tried a new cranberry and crushed pineapple raspberry jello recipe that was really good! And tomorrow I'm cooking a turkey! EEK!

 These potatoes were DIVINE!The secret ingredient in the twice baked potatoes is cream! And of course the bacon makes everything betta! 

Chinese Chicken Salad with dried cranberries and mandarin oranges. I added some slivered almonds too. Yum. 

Corn pudding. I'd never tried this before but it was good! Kind of sweet and savory at the same time. I found a recipe at Taste of Home HERE that got a 4.9 rating! It would be a fun, new recipe to try! I loved it! 

I made some cute Thanksgiving cupcakes too...Scarecrows and Turkey Cupcakes with Orange Slice Candy hats and Lemonhead heads and Candycorn feathers and beaks.

I also found these fall colored Reese's Pieces candies that added a yummy touch to these Peanut Butter Cookies. They looked pretty on my fall brown crockery platter. 

Another one of the teachers made these delectable chocolate turkey cupcakes. Yummo! 

And these pecan tartlets were to die for. I ate two of them! They are like a tiny pecan pie! I found a similar recipe at All Recipes.com, HERE.  It's my favorite cooking website because everything is rated by like thousands of home cooks. You KNOW it's gonna be good.

Had to have something healthy too! Everything tasted really great. 

Another yummy thing we had was Cranberry Sprite! It's NEW and Superbly YUMMY! Try it this holiday! 

I am planning my menu for Thanksgiving Day too. I'm going to do my favs but add some of those pecan tartlets and some Sweet Potato Casserole too.

Little Pinecone Turkey Placecards....check out my previous blog post for the tutorial Here at Weekday Chef.

Besides making some excellent memories with your kids and family this year doing some fun crafts like Gingerbread houses, Little turkeys out of pine cones (above... my granddaughter is modeling them as hair bows lol) or making sugar Christmas cookies or breads....we play Pin the Hat on the Turkey. 

 What side dishes do you plan to go along with your turkey and stuffing? 

Side dishes....besides your obligatory potatoes, gravy and stuffing, WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER FAVORITES? 

WELL....And besides all of the wonderful pies we all make....My daughter-in-law Cait made these cute mini apple pies....So cute....what else do you love on Thanksgiving Day???! 

My favorite salad is one my mom always made.....fresh cranberry....Check out the recipe HERE at Weekday Chef. The fun thing about it is my siblings all make this one too. You make family traditions with all of your side dishes, did you KNOW THAT? Yeah. It's true! 

My son  Devin made this spinach salad....doesn't it look yummy? So pretty too! It is seriously one of my very favorite side salads to any meal....with spinach, candied pecans, avocado, strawberries and a sweet raspberry vineagrette. 

My niece Becky made this to die for sweet potato casserole...I found a recipe for it at All Recipes.com HERE. ...it is really yummy and tastes almost llike a dessert it's so good! 

One that I have always made is the French's Fried Onions Green Bean Casserole with Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup in it. You just Have to have some green bean casserole! The recipe is on the back of the French's Onion Can. 

And of course you can't forget the homemade rolls and real salted butter. I love to have some really good raspberry jam to go with it.

Here is the link at Patties Place. I have lots of Thanksgiving decor I've taken pics of.  It's my other blog. Try a new side dish this Thanksgiving you haven't tried before. And have fun at YOUR get together this fall holiday!

Pine Cone Turkey Craft Tutorial and Placecards

PINE CONE TURKEY TUTORIAL HERE! 

 Here's a picture of our Thanksgiving placecards this year.  These adorable PINECONE TURKEYS are really easy to make. Add some PLACECARDS and some knock knock turkey jokes and you can crack your family up!

Thanksgiving Decorating - Entry Hall Table and basket of pumpkins....

Scarecrow Cupcakes and Turkey Cupcakes decorated with Lemonheads candies and Large Orange slices. These tasted as good as they looked! I filled the chocolate cake batter with sour cream, chocolate pudding and some chocolate chips! Yum! 

PINE CONE TURKEY TUTORIAL!!!

THANKSGIVING TABLE DECOR

You will need:
6  rainbow colors of chenille stems
a pine cone, 
one brown pom pom, 
an orange fat/skinny chenille stem (shaped like a snowman nose)
wiggly eyes
 Wrap the chenille stems around the bottom circumference of the pine cone and twist once so you have the 2 end parts sticking out like a V.  Then twist those 2 together at the ends to make one teardrop shaped loop, or like a bunny's ear.  Do this again with a different color. Make all the loops on one side of the pine cone so they look like a turkey's feathers. I make sure the pine cone can sit level on a table too.

 I start with red and do orange, yellow, green, blue, purple,  the order of the rainbow. Then take a glue gun and add a brown pom pom for the head on the other side of all these cute feathers. Add 2 googly eyes purchased from Hobby Lobby or Walmart.  Lastly, add a snipped off piece of the orange fat chenille stem. They end up looking like a carrot but are perfect for a turkey " beak".

My Thanksgiving Decor in the entryway....gotta love some 3 foot tall pilgrims! 

Lastly I went online and found these adorable placecard tags. I printed off 8 of them for my own Thanksgiving guests at my table. They come in pumpkin orange and kind of a sage green.  I laminated them so I could reuse them next year. (If you don't have lamination then just use a roll of clear, fat, book tape or something similar to protect them. Then use a dry erase marker for putting the family names. You can wipe it off after dinner and reuse the little turkey cards.  HERE is the link for the free and printable turkey cards.

PINE CONE TURKEY CRAFT and PLACECARD TUTORIAL 

KIDDIE TABLE THANKSGIVING DECORATIONS

I made a little table for my granddaughters to sit at and used little plates and cups for them and a cute little tablecloth. I think they loved being at their own little table. They really LOVED their little turkey placecards!

PINE CONE TURKEY TUTORIAL AND CUTE THANKSGIVING TABLE DECOR....

 I'll have to think of something cute toput on the tables for Christmas! Maybe some little pinecone snowmen! I've got TONS of pinecones out in our front yard under our trees. Hmmm... another repurposing crafty project...

We always play a game on Thanksgiving...sometimes Apples to Apples, Sometimes Loaded Questions or Wits and Wagers...and sometimes good old PIN THE PILGRM HAT ON THE TURKEY! 

I purchased these kiddie melamine plates at Target  for the upcoming Christmas holiday dinner. And they had placemats and bowls to match at Target. I love that store.  I could easily make a simple snowman tablecloth if I want to matchy-match.  That might be easier than placemats since my kiddie table is kinda tiny.  I'll have to see what kind of fabric they have at Hobby Lobby tomorrow.

Cute Target Kid's Plates and tableware for Christmas! I have lots of snowmen decor to go with this too!  

Pottery Barn Kids had some DARLING plates and cups and decorations for holiday tables but I wasn't keen on paying $14.00 for 1 little plate. But it is great for ideas and it sure is fun to browse the beautiful store and enjoy their great decorations. Just trekking down to Trolley Square in Salt Lake is always a fun adventure anyways.

CUTE CHRISTMAS KIDDIE TABLE FOR DINNER....TARGET HAS SUCH CLEVER TABLEWARE! 

 I loved hanging out with Megan and Marisa. Notice their cute turkey shirts my daughter made for Thanksgiving? So cute!!