day 199: MERRY CHRISTMAS and a table setting fit for the season :)

merry christmas

i wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry christmas and to thank you for visiting. this journey, so far, has changed my life. i definitely saw my life becoming more handmade, which i am totally loving, but what i didn't expect was the great support i get from you guys.  i absolutely love the friendships i have made.  thanks so much to those of you that comment and/or follow me for the wonderful support and interest ... you guys really have made this journey so much more enjoyable than i ever could have imagine.  so thank you from my heart to yours.

 wishing you all a very safe, merry, and wonderful christmas with those that mean the most to you

the finished table setting!!!

for day 199 it just had to be an outdoor table setting for our christmas breakfast ... this idea i saw on pinterest instantly resonated with me and so it was pinned to my christmas is coming board.  this idea was highlighted on centsational girl (totally following this AWESOME site now!) and originated from sweet something design.  

each christmas day we have a big cooked breakfast to start the day after making our way through the amazing stockings and present unwrapping.  in our house for the last 20 years we have always had our big traditional turkey dinner on boxing day.  my sweet mum turned christmas into a three day festive - 

• with hot ham, cutting of the christmas cake, and hallmark decorations on christmas eve, 
• christmas day we have stockings, presents, and a big breakfast with the rest of the day spent playing with presents and grazing on ham, home made bread, and all the goodies from santa not to mention the christmas baking!  
• and on boxing day evening we have our big traditional christmas dinner in the early evening.  

my mum always felt there was too much to fit into christmas day to enjoy each part of it and rather than just opt out of things she spread them over three days.  it works so well and i never have that empty feeling after christmas is over because of it.  i love that we get to enjoy each part of christmas without feeling overwhelmed by trying to fit it all in, in one day.  so while we joke about our three day christmas festive, its actually my favourite family tradition and something that my husband and i have carried on ourselves.

it's summer here in new zealand, so we are all about the outdoors for christmas.  this year (weather permitting) i wanted our christmas day breakfast to be outside as well.  the inspiration of sweet something design i found on pinterest looked perfect, especially loved the tartan rug as the table cover.  so to work steve (my sweet) and i went to create our own table setting for christmas.  we went with the outdoor them, using native timbers, reds, greens, and silver for bling :)

as our tarten rug was red we went with it and silvers to
go with the rustic look :)

today we had purchased crackers, tomorrow
for our big turkey dinner we will have the
home made ones :)

we had the nicest time and everyone loved the extra effort put into the table setting

trifle for dessert was the BEST!

outcome: merry, cherry, and bright with amazing company and the yummiest food and wine! working with my sweet, it took us 20 minutes to pull this table setting together and the family kept saying how nice it was to sit down at such a beautiful table ... they were so sweet, but it really did sparkle.  i loved the rsutle nature of it and the fact it barely took anytime and we used what we already had bar the candles which i purchased the other day.  i'd say it was the perfect place to have a christmas meal :)

my thanks to sweet something design who was highlighted on centsational girl, all it takes is a little inspiration, a little time, and a little effort to make something to be proud of, and i totally was with this ... maybe not perfection, but my family didn't no otherwise.