Back Issues of The Little Round Table - December 2009

This is the final post in a series of five that take a look at all the

tablescapes posted since August 2009, when I started blogging about my tablescaping.

It happens that this final review of 2009 falls on my favorite Party Day in blogland.

Tablescape Thursday for the last time this year is taking place over at

Between Naps On The Porch with our hostess Susan.

For All December 2009 Posts click here

Do you have a favorite Holiday tablescape?

Or a favorite from another month? Or several favorites?

Please post a comment here on this thread and let me

know which tablescape(s) you liked best.  Even if you

have just been lurking I'd appreciate a comment on what

you've liked or not liked, so I can plan for upcoming posts.

I'll be reporting tomorrow on the Top 10 visited

tablescapes, as well as the 10 at the bottom of the

list still waiting to be discovered.

See All Back Issues of The Little Round Table

Back Issues of The Little Round Table - November 2009

This is the fourth of five posts looking back at my four months of blogging about my tablescapes.  This issue checks back on all the tablescapes for the month of November 2009.

For All November 2009 Posts click here

See All Back Issues of The Little Round Table

Back Issues of The Little Round Table - October 2009

This is the third of five posts looking back at my four months of blogging about

my tablescapes. Here's a look at what was going on in October of 2009.

For All October 2009 Posts click here

See All Back Issues

A Bittersweet Day

My heart is breaking.

Our 46th anniversary and sweet memories of my dear Ms Bonnie who left us this evening to join her other fur baby friends in the clouds of heaven.  She had a wonderful Christmas with her grand babies and family, but lost the battle this evening.

She was 15 and the best dog ever. She was surrounded at the end by the three who loved her best my DH and me and my daughter, who was her doctor.  She left us here at home with quiet grace and is now free of all suffering and pain. We will miss her always, but will remember the years of unconditional love she brought to our lives.

Back Issues of The Little Round Table - September 2009

Welcome to another episode in the Metamorphosis Monday

saga being hosted by Susan over at Between Naps On The Porch.

AND

Another Mosaic Monday over at Little Red House hosted by Mary

(visit Mary, even though she's taking a little break from Mosaic Monday)

AND

Let's join all the fans of Blue Monday over at Smiling Sally's,

since there surely must be enough blue dishes here to qualify.

That would make it a triple play

ready made to reveal The "Naked" Little Round Table.

In its unadorned state The Little Round Table is a vintage iron garden table base

with its original green chippy paint topped with a glass round.  Mister TLRT actually

prefers it naked, but since I'm in charge of the kitchen.....well you've seen what

The Little Round Table looks like all dressed up for meals. It's a true metamorphosis.

The kitchen is recovering from the chaos of a Christmas meal for 16

and way too much champagne and merry making!

There are still remnants of Christmas dishes and decor, but it will soon be back to normal.

After a full month of the Merry Merry Miscellany of the season, I'm ready for the

minimalist look or as close to it as I ever get!

The other two dining tables that sometimes appear in place of The Little Round Table

aren't avaialbe for photos today ...... one is covered with bins of the "de-cluttering" process

and clearing the Christmas decor, while the other is covered with holiday tablecloths

being washed, pressed and folded to be stored away for next year.

The vintage Fiesta lives in the kitchen now that their original home in the pantry hall has

been given over to the tablescape "stuff."  More about that later in January.

I've often been asked how I get to the dishes in the upper cabinets.  I use a plain old step ladder, after considering a library rail and ladder system for months when designing this kitchen.  The floor space the systems require and the wear and tear on the pine flooring were the main reasons I chose to not include a ladder system. The everyday dinnerware is kept in cabinets on the sink/dishwasher side of the kitchen, as well as the pantry hall which backs up to the wall of cabinets which hold the vintage Fiesta.

This is the second of five posts looking back at my four months of

blogging about my tablescapes. Here's a look at what was going on in September of 2009.

For All September 2009 Posts click here

See All Back Issues of The Little Round Table

Back Issues of The Little Round Table - August 2009

Welcome to Sunday Favorites being held over at Happy to Design

This is the first of five posts looking back at my four months of blogging about

my tablescapes, starting off with August 2009.

Here's a snapshot view of all the tablescapes that appeared in August 2009, did you miss any of them?

For All August 2009 Posts click here

The Day After

We're still washing dishes and putting things away after a wonderful holiday meal with family and friends.  Happy Holidays to you all and I'll be back playing with my dishes very soon.  First I need to tidy up a bit ...... the elves have been overworked and have told me they are on vacation for the entire month of January!

Tune in tomorrow Sunday December 27 - December 31 for a look back at my 4 months as a blogger. Four months of tablescapes is a lot of dishes and tablecloths!

Candy

Christmas Bride Doll 1948

It's Christmas Show and Tell over at My Romantic Home. May all your Christmas wishes and dreams come true.

Do little 5 year old girls still dream about Santa bringing them a bride doll?  That was the only thing I wanted the Christmas that I was five.  I was celebrating my first Christmas in Germany after my family moved there with the Department of Defense.  Times were very lean and there weren't a lot of goods available, certainly not a lot of bride dolls.

As was pretty common at the time, a woman came to our door selling some of her belongings to make ends meet.  My mother purchased this china head doll with composite body and made the bridal outfit.  My bride doll was delivered by Santa in her very own Puppenwagen (baby carriage) and she was my pride and joy!

When I was about 8 she made a trip to the Puppen Krankenhaus (doll hospital) to have her makeup redone.  She made another trip to a doll hospital in Illinois when I was about 15, after my little 2 year old sister poked out one of her eyes!  And sometime in the intervening years she has lost her bouquet and her veil, but retains her petticoat, her dress and her bare feet.  Never pregant, but still bare footed after all these years.

Her head is dated 1894 and she was Made In Germany.

Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas

Heidelberg in the snow circa 1950

A Nutcracker Christmas Eve

A very special Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan at Between Naps On The Porch on this Christmas Eve. From our house to yours here's wishing you the merriest Christmas celebration.

While I finally pulled out the dust cloth, the vacuum, and the total spiff-it-up kit to make magic in the land of dust bunnies, The Claus family was baking up a storm in my kitchen.  I do hope they clean up their mess and leave the kitchen sparkling!!

They came to me in that nice brown truck that brings presents, directly from Kohl's for the special

price of $34.  I'm so happy to have them on my team as we prepare for our Christmas Eve dinner right beside the Christmas tree.

Visions of sugar plums, ballerinas and toys under the Christmas tree join my childhood Nutcracker from a recent Show and Tell Friday on this vintage tablecloth depicting the scenes and characters from "The Nutcracker."

Italian glass chargers, Scarlet Post 86 Fiesta and Williams Sonoma salad plates.  Stemware from Pier 1, flatware from Macy's, napkins and napkin rings from Crate and Barrel in the late 80s.