Nothing says Christmas dinner like a table set with plates and Christmas decorations. Whether you’re having a traditional Christmas roast turkey, beef, ham, or vegan specialties, you’ll want your family and friends to feel that holiday spirit when they sit down for that festive meal. Maybe you eat early in the afternoon and eat leftovers and treats the rest of the day. Perhaps you have a formal sit-down dinner on Christmas Day evening. Perhaps your most festive or traditional meal is on Christmas Eve in the early afternoon or after midnight mass. In any case, you will want to set a nice, festive-themed table.
You may want to first look at the Christmas plates and decorations you already own. Most people are delighted to see something new on the table, but some won’t be so happy without some of the traditions that have been observed over the years. Did Grandma hand you that special meat dish, salt and pepper shakers or candle holders? Even when you dress your table with some things that are new, there are still some lovely old things that can be present.
After you decide what to keep, plan, at least in general, the menu. Does this seem premature? If you’re not serving salad or soup, for example, there’s no point in buying a festive platter set that has bowls. Also consider how you like your food to be served. Prefer to serve a buffet with all the dishes to serve on the side? Or do you envision your family sitting at the dinner table with all their soggy fixings on the table? A table full of plates of food does not have as much space for table decorations along the entire length of the table. It will suffice with a smaller centerpiece or with decorations in each place in the form of tableware, individual tablecloths, napkins, napkin rings, etc.
Also consider a color scheme for your table. Red, green and metallic golds and silvers are always traditional and tasteful. Also consider a more contemporary setting like white with hints of blue or lavender. These colors can be incorporated into plates, tablecloths, napkins, runners, candles, foliage, beads, ribbons, garlands, and more. Also incorporate color into your meal planning. Having a green vegetable is delicious to look at and nutritious too. Be careful not to have too many white and brown foods like turkey, mashed potatoes, and white biscuits, which make for a boring presentation. The holidays are a great time to have some bright colors on your plate in the form of sweet potatoes or berries of some shape: blueberries, raspberries, blueberries. Think of some fresh flavors for the palette and not just the traditional starchy ones. Just as you did with your Christmas tableware and decorations, serve up some of the traditional recipes for your family and spice things up with at least one new recipe each year.
Christmas dinner is a composition piece. Most people think first of all about food, but it wouldn’t be so much fun if it weren’t for the special Christmas dinnerware, table linens, centerpieces, and everything decorative that reminds us of Christmas time. Take the old bride maxim of combining something old, something new, something borrowed and, if you want, even something blue.
