East Coast, West Coast All Around The Town

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays brought to you each week by The Tablescaper

East Coast, West Coast All Around The Town.

We're painting our tabletops red this week.

My dish buddy Daphne from Tabletop Time came up with the idea

to use our red Poinsettia vintage tablecloths today for Seasonal Sundays.

From San Francisco at The Little Round Table

And from Boston over at Tabletop Time it's

East Coast, West Coast All Around The Town

The Little Round Table Red Stripe Fiesta

Vintage California Hand Prints Red Poinsettia tablecloth with metallic gold accents. A combination of vintage Red Stripe Fiesta and the new Red Stripe pieces produced for the Homer Laughlin Collectors Association by Homer Laughlin China Company.  The dinner plates, disc pitcher and vase are new pieces, the remaining striped items are vintage.  Decorative salad plates and hobnail tumblers from Home Goods, goblets and candle holder from Pier 1, flatware and napkin rings purchased on the internet.

An alternative using different accessories with the same Red Stripe dinnerware. Decorative salad plates, cutwork bowl and votives from Home Goods, crystal stemware is from Vera Wang, "Infinity." Flatware came from Macy's twenty years ago! The napkins were ordered from battenburglace.com for $24 per dozen. The handled cream soup bowls are from my service for twelve of vintage Haviland pattern #60424.

Thanks so very much for coming to visit The Little Round Table all decked out in red.  Be sure to stop by and visit with Daphne over at Tabletop Time too!

Sunday Favorites: Hand Puppets - Christmas 1952

I'm joining Chari's weekly Sunday Favorites party over at Happy To Design,

be sure to stop by there to visit more posts from the past.

This post was originally published in December 2009

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This was the beginning of another collection of characters at Christmas time 1952. They dwarf the Storybook Dolls and became a favorite gift over the next few years as I received more characters. I began giving puppet shows with these hand puppets when I was about 10 and made good money doing birthday parties for dependent families and their children.


All during the year I would visit the little toy store on a side street in downtown Schwetzingen to dream about which puppet I might receive for the next Christmas. And I always made a stop to visit with the pretzel lady and usually received a free pretzel.  She always remarked at how my grasp of the German language improved as the months and years went by.


Christmas 1952 with my baby brother laughing it up with me visible, since the puppets scared him when he couldn't see me.

These are hand puppets with carved wooden heads from F. H. Bross in Stuttgart.  They all have their original clothes and hang tags. The cast of characters allows most any story of good and evil to be told.  This troop of performers are very used to the floodlights and "treading the boards," as theater folks like to say.

There is the “Punch” type character (whose name has escaped me over the years), with his rather dimwitted side-kick.

The King and The Princess

The Princess' Nurse who always accompanies her.

The Granny, who can also portray a witch when one is called for.

The Woodsman, who can be a dark evil character

or a kindly one who rescues lost children from the deep dark forests.

The Chinaman, who was always the bad guy.

Politically totally incorrect in today's terms by name and characterization,

but it was a different time back then.

The Wolf and the Alligator who were always bad guys.

The carved wooden alligator came before a newer plastic one,

whose jaws don't snap shut loudly like the wooden one

and isn't nearly as effective at scaring little kids.

The senior member of the troop takes a final curtain call

and thanks you for stopping by, while the rest of the cast waits in the wings.

I still have the puppet theater which is yellow and red with painted characters,

green curtains and a double sided backdrop with one exterior and one interior view.

The theater is packed away in the attic, but the puppets are on display in a glass cabinet.

It's been a very long time since I gave a puppet show. :-)

Thanks for dropping by to revisit this Sunday Favorites post,
I hope to see you again this coming week:
Met Monday - 2010 Christmas Tree Reveal
Tabletop Tuesday - Another holiday tablescape
Plus some special parties coming up that I'll be linking up to.

Hanukkah - Fifth Night

Originally posted for Hanukkah 2009

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Please welcome our guest blogger Saarin, my friend and fellow dish collector to The Little Round Table for a celebration of the "Festival of Lights" Dec 11-18. Leave comments for Saarin here on The Little Round Table, she'll be checking in as the posts come online each day through next Friday.

 

One of the highlights of our neighborhood Hanukkah parties is the lighting of the menorahs. No flash was needed to capture this glowing moment.

Another traditional food of Hanukkah are "sufganyot" otherwise known as doughnuts!

Hanukkah - Fourth Night

This Hanukkah series was originally posted for Hanukkah 2009

by my friend and fellow Fiesta collector Saarin.

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Please welcome our guest blogger Saarin, my friend and fellow dish collector to The Little Round Table for a celebration of the "Festival of Lights" Dec 11-18. Leave comments for Saarin here on The Little Round Table, she'll be checking in as the posts come online each day through next Friday.





Back in 2000, Noah's aunt came to visit from afar, and brought her own travelling menorah! (It's the tiny one in front.)

My sister and I have always enjoyed singing the blessings over the candles, and harmonizing on the traditional Hanukkah songs, like "Mi Yimalel". This song speaks to the theme of remembering that is so important to the holiday.

"Who can retell
The things that befell us,
Who can count them?
In every age
A hero or sage
Arose to our aid."

Back Issues: The Little Round Table November 2010

I'm joining Bargain Hunting for Favorite Things,
come visit and check out all the pretties.

November just ran on by .... and now we are into the HOLIDAYS!

I hope you'll visit The Little Round Table all during December for lots of holiday tablescapes.

Here's a look back at the tablescapes for November 2010.

Hanukkah - Third Night

This Hanukkah series was originally posted for Hanukkah 2009

by my friend and fellow Fiesta collector Saarin

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Please welcome our guest blogger Saarin, my friend and fellow dish collector to The Little Round Table for a celebration of the "Festival of Lights". Leave comments for Saarin here on The Little Round Table, she'll be checking in as the posts come online each day through next Friday.

This vintage 12" ivory vase is one of the real prizes of my collection, but I think that the carafe is my most favorite piece in the vintage Fiesta line. I love shoes almost as much as dishes, so this menorah was a delightful find!