Yes, I am really a bit sad, I freely admit it!  I spent this afternoon messing about with the dining table, china, glasses, cutlery and so on, so as to plan upcoming Christmas entertaining in advance.

We have 3 lunches to do over the Christmas period, including the biggie on Christmas Day, and rather than go into a spin with table decorating on the actual mornings themselves, (when I am supposed to be concentrating on cooking), I thought it better to know what I would put on the table for each occasion in advance.

Lunch Number One

This table is styled with fresh whites and greens.  There are lots of natural elements in those colour ways on the table.  A large footed glass bowl of hydrangeas has raffia curled around the inside to hide the stems.  Faceted tea light holders in clear glass bounce light around and don’t block eye levels.  Two porcelain flower shaped tea light holders add more candle glow.  The table has two linen runners on it, one natural laid in one direction and a pale lime green going in the opposite direction.

 

I added glass cloches with beautiful coral and shells as decoration.  Totally nothing to do with Christmas, but hey why not?!

I then added fresh rosemary sprigs to each place setting, they smell beautiful and can be thrown on the fire later to scent the room even more.

I think this one will be good for Christmas Eve lunch.  But I then started switching the sea themed cloches as it all seemed a bit pale,  I used some beautiful vases from Anthropologie in turquoise/sea green tones.  Little tea light holders shaped like artichokes in the same colours continue the theme.

I have some fabulous gold candles I bought which are solid wax right down to the base (even though they are shaped like they are in candle holders).  These pack a good punch against the blues.

Now I am totally confused and cannot decide between the two!

Lunch Number Two

This table theme all revolves around mercury glass, silver, antique glass baubles and candlelight.  I think this will be the Christmas Day table setting as it is the one which will work well as the light fades outside and so the candles become more magical.  The table is very simple with no cloth and plain white china, so the focus is on all the candles and reflective surfaces in the middle of the table.  Plus there will be tons of extra dishes coming onto the table so I need the space available in the centre.

I love all of the reflective glass with candle light.

On each place setting there is a gift of a tree decoration used to tie the napkin that guests can keep.

Simple and sparkly!

Lunch Number Three

This lunch table theme becomes much more rustic and should suit a less formal day between Christmas and New Year.  The table is covered in rough hessian, and the decorations are very rustic and natural.

Again the guests get a keepsake decoration on their napkins.  This is a wooden red star with bells and a leather string.

In the centre of the table are tealights in customised galvanised wire holders.  I used ribbon, hessian strips and a glue gun to pep them up and make them more seasonal.

Four sweet little felt Christmas trees surrounded by pine cones, dried oranges and cinnamon complete the centre of the table.  The oranges and cinnamon also smell very seasonal.

 

Finally, dotted among the pine cones are some delicious little sweets of cherries in kirsch and wrapped in dark chocolate.  Their red wrappers add some more colour to the table.

With all this playing around, I also discovered a really simple and effective look with battery operated fairy lights and some mercury glass vases.  Simply pop them inside and they look AMAZING!

So table planning is now done, and I can at least hope that I can do it quickly on the actual days now that I am prepped.  Happy Christmas, and may your tables look utterly fabulous!