The Holiday Hutch

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My mother was a great lover of Christmas. Every Christmas morning for my entire life, she treated the family to a most excellent Christmas brunch. Christmas has never been the same since she passed away. As a consequence, these past years it has taken me longer than usual to get into the holiday decorating mood. I still haven’t fully embraced it, but, giving myself a break this year and allowing myself to decorate half as much as I usually do, has made the task less daunting. I decided to limit myself to fewer rooms than normal, focusing on the kitchen and dining areas where I tend to spend the most time. My goal was to use things that I had not used in the past.

The plates, mounted on stands, were a new purchase last year.
 

 The green lantern has a red mate that I am currently using to decorate my two-tier tray. Both of these belonged to my mother.

Similarly, the stack of Santa luncheon plates, a long time family favorite, belonged to her as well. They sit on top of black square dinner plates by Rachael Ray, which sit on top of Portugal majolica leaf chargers.

 

The two sets of salt and pepper shakers are vintage, and from her collection. My aunt (her younger sister), tells me that she gave her the Mr. and Mrs. Snowman salt and pepper shakers many years ago for Christmas. Mother has always been a fan of Christmas, and buying her lovely holiday tableware for gifts was always welcome.

 

The teapot and cups and saucers are Waechtersbach in their “Christmas tree” pattern. Two other cups are on my two-tier tray. I love the set. It is so cheery, and always gets a lot of admiring comments from family and friends. That warmer really works. Is there anything better than a cup of hot tea and a freshly baked cookie on a cold afternoon?

My tree is finally up, a small one (my mother’s, are you detecting a theme here?), The gifts are wrapped, and the cards are mailed. Now it’s time to bake cookies and work on two Christmas dinners that I will be serving this year to very few people.

I hope you have some lovely and heartwarming plans in place as well. It’s going to be a weird one, but let’s be thankful they we're all here to celebrate.