Setting the Christmas Table

Christmas preparations are already in full swing in the hedgerows. It may still be autumn, but the holly is starting to set its berries, the ivy is flamboyantly trailing, and it’s hard to walk past a myrtle tree without marvelling at its glossy leaves (and thinking about how beautiful it will look and smell when some branches are brought inside for Christmas). Bright red crab apples cling stubbornly to increasingly bare branches, cobwebs twinkle with dew in the low morning sun. Everywhere nature is reminding us that the winter solstice will soon be upon us, and that it is time to start planning our Christmas tables and decorations.

You already have the building blocks: a favourite festive tablecloth, perhaps a bit of tarnished family silver, maybe a homemade centre piece that is dusted off every year much to the embarrassment of your children. Add to this a few new pieces every year and you will start to build your own unique tradition.

Take your lead from Mother Nature and stick to a simple colour scheme of reds and greens, mix and matching different patterns to build up a beautifully opulent yet harmonious look. Try mixing our Christmas Toast 10 1/2 inch plates with our lovely Christmas Ivy pattern. Or fill a jar with an armful of foliage snipped from the garden on Christmas morning, still wet with dew.

There is no room at the Christmas table for minimalism; instead pile your table high with as many treats as you can muster. Fashions in decorating may come and go but fairy lights go on forever. They just ARE Christmas; simple and perfect, pretty and kind of friendly. So, get out your fairy lights, drape them carefully all over the tree, plug them in and – hurrah! Switch them on and Christmas has started!

Fill our bowls with violet creams and jewel-like glacier fruit, layer freshly baked mince pies onto a plate, or add a few glass candle holders to keep the table sparkling as night starts to fall. Look to napkins to add another pop of colour- mix and match our paper ones, or for something really special, look at our new linen napkins and beautiful reversable placemats.