A Christmas luncheon...

As is to be expected, this YOP (Year of Projects) post, is going to be about creative, crafty things.  And a Christmas luncheon.  For me, nothing is much better than being able to combine some creativity with spending time with others.

With the Christmas season upon us, I was inspired this year to host a table at our church's Women's Christmas Luncheon (which was yesterday). 

Attendance from our own church ladies was down this year for some reason, so I ended up being able to host a table full of friends (and one friend of a friend).  That isn't how I imagined this being, but looking at the lovely (and loved) faces around my table, I thought it was surely extra fun the way it turned out.  I knew these gals would appreciate anything I came up with - even if I completely flubbed on making a nice table setting.  Not that I was very worried about that, but these things do cross one's mind...

My inspiration for creating a Christmas table was a set of dishes I brought home from my mother-in-law's when she passed in 2020 that were the same design of dishes I grew up with.  

The dinner plate of this Currier & Ives set is a winter scene of "The Old Grist Mill".  Perfect for a winter brunch to kick off the holidays.  While it was probably not obvious to anyone else, my theme became "Vintage".

The gals organizing the event decided to make some changes from previous years - the first being to rent round tables (for which the church has evidently purchased a bunch of plain white table cloths).  I had already given thought to decorating a long table, so wrapping my head around creating a centerpiece that needed to look nice from multiple angles around a round table, I'm sure made me expend a few brain cells I didn't anticipate.  

Also, I wasn't interested in using a plain white cloth, and I didn't want to buy a round table cloth just for this purpose.  So I came up with the very simple idea to just purchase cotton fabric and make a square "topper" out of it - thinking I could use the fabric for any number of things later.  Learning how large the tables were, that simple idea morphed into buying enough fabric to stitch two widths together into a square that I could drape over the white table cloth.  The selvages of the fabric were nicely frayed which made a great way to finish it off all the way around.  In other words...  it required no hemming.

I did decide to make (and hem) some fabric napkins, though.  

And I'm so glad I did!  

Using this tutorial:

I became proficient at another way of making mitered corners.

Mitered corners and I are becoming fast friends!

An interesting video playing in the background made this tedious task more tolerable...

One job done

At some point in this whole process, I also came up with what I hoped would be a fun gift that my guests could use, and ideally was something handmade (just because I liked the idea of that).   

Hand-knit dishcloths came quickly to mind, and when I found these holiday soft soaps, I thought the combination would be a respectable little gift.

So each lady got a slightly different version of the same thing.  A cute jelly roll of dishcloths and some soap - that well...  most anyone can use!

I also made simple napkin rings using a wired ribbon, topped with these cute little holly thingamabobs (found at Hobby Lobby).  All hot glued together.

And finally, using things I already had, I made a centerpiece.  The hardest part of this, was estimating how big of a centerpiece to make.  We were told the tables were 5 feet across, and using my 5-foot-long rectangular dining room table as a guide, I eventually came up with a vignette - that probably was a bit large for the round table - but I think it was okay.  

But backing up for just a moment...  When I first started pulling a centerpiece together, I made a sort of wreath out of fake garland I've decorated with for years.  Then placed a vintage glass Tom's Toasted Peanut jar in the middle filled with red and gold glass balls.  We have two of these vintage jars, and one of them has held cookie cutters for years.  Oooh...  Suddenly the idea of using old metal Christmas themed cookie cutters tied to the wreath occurred to me!

It worked, but something about the whole thing felt, I don't know....  unwieldy, maybe, to me.  It was only after I packed it all up for taking to the church the next day that I came across a large woven tray that I had bought at a friend's garage sale a couple of years ago. It was the solution I didn't know I needed!  The tray made all the difference.  Before this, I didn't fully appreciate the power of a container of some sort to build a centerpiece on.

Instead of forming a wreath, the garland was placed in something of a free-flowing design around and overflowing one of the edges of the tray. Then, as if it had happened organically, I just "spilled" some more red and gold balls into the middle of the tray to fill it in.  The extra napkin in the middle (below) came out the next day, but for some reason, the night before I thought it looked cute in there.  The next morning I thought it just looked kind of confusing.

I don't know if the small cross stitch pillows were too much - in fact, it was my intention the next morning to pull them out too, but I forgot.  They ended up being a conversation piece, so I think my table mates liked them. 

All in all, I was pleased with how everything turned out.  Our meal was catered by Johnny Carino's, and while it could have been warmer (at least mine, by the time I ate it) it was delicious.  I'd love to recreate the Lemon Rosemary Chicken they served us.  

The time passed quickly - singing carols, hearing the story behind all the elements of the Twelve Days of Christmas, then visiting over our meal.  It was a lovely way to kick off the season.  For me, having this behind me, I now feel like the rest of the season should provide plenty of time to focus more thoughtfully on the birth of Jesus, and the gift of salvation and grace He offers us.

I hope this Christmas season is meaningful for us all.