Hostessing Again!

Hosting our dear friends for supper before a little gift exchange......this time our cozy winter dinner consisted of--

*pork barbecue for the bbq-eaters
*Parker House rolls
*kale-brussels sprouts salad
*roasted sweet potatoes & regular potatoes
*lemon icebox pie

I kept it very easy because today was fruitcake-baking day in my house.  Every year I make fruitcakes for my father from his mother's recipe (which was also his grandmother's recipe).  He loves them and I will never skip the tradition--even if I end up baking them late, like I am this year.  It's a classic, traditional fruitcake and the first year I made it I was only a few weeks from giving birth to our second child and I was unprepared for how epic it would be.  Now I am wise and start one day ahead to save myself the backache.

We had such a nice evening, with the children screaming wildly like banshees downstairs and the adults upstairs lingering over the meal.  We exchanged gifts and dear Allison gave me the softest pajamas, lavender dryer bags, lavender salt scrub and a glorious jar of lavender-rosemary dish detergent, which I cannot *wait* to use! We love to give each other gifts that are useful and luxurious--it's so nice to make everyday tasks more pleasant.

That's all the hostessing I will do until my daughter's birthday in early January.  We return from our New Year's trip on January 5th, and it will only be a few days until I pull together a little sparkly party for her.

Hostessing

In one week, I have hosted four different times!

Last Saturday we celebrated my sister's birthday with:
*roasted vegetable platter (cauliflower, broccoli)
*English fish pie
*gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate pie

--and used the cream-and-brown china, with the aqua napkins (flowers courtesy of my father).

On Sunday we hosted my in-laws for my mother-in-law's birthday.  We made:
*pork barbecue
*rolls
*purple cabbage-carrot coleslaw
*steamed broccoli
*roasted potatoes and carrots
*key lime pie cheesecake

--and used the white fine china with the Christmas linens.....

On Monday and Wednesday I did scads of Christmas baking.  On Thursday we hosted our neighbors for:
*salad "bar" (lots of toppings in individual jadeite bowls)
*spaghetti with meatballs and freshly-grated parmesean
*fresh foccacia kissed with pink Himalayan salt
*platter of Christmas goodies

--and used the jadeite, with no tablecloth (easy cleanup in case of spaghetti spills! five children between us, and all of them small....) and paint-dipped pinecones.

And on Saturday we threw a little Christmas luncheon for my grandparents featuring:
*chicken salad with pecans
*fresh Parker House rolls
*potato-onion soup
*buttermilk pie (my grandfather's favorite!) & decaf coffee

--and used the cream and delicate aqua-flowered china passed along to me by my husband's grandmother, set on top of a cream tablecloth with aqua napkins....so beautiful!  My centerpiece was a fruit bouquet my neighbor made and brought on Thursday evening.

Now I'm done!

An October Baby Shower

Several years ago my dear friend was pregnant with her second child--who is 17 years younger than her first child!  I threw a baby shower for her and it was such a pleasure. Things worked out so perfectly that the shower fell in autumn--her favorite season and an easy time of year to work rustic beauty into the scheme.

I decided to use my brown and cream china and work forward from that.  I wanted cream and brown invitations, and found these--perfect!

Layered the table with a white cloth and then a long rustic piece of fabric the thrift store presented me with a few weeks before the shower. Set it up with my china, supplemented by more cream plates I had gathered at the thrift store to fill it out.  A couple of cream candles and some flowers and that was that!

The menu was good and very easy: vegetables and dip, pumpkin-chocolate chip mini-muffins, mushroom and leek mini-quiches, chicken salad with pecans and cranberries in phyllo cups, traditional cucumber sandwiches, hot ham and swiss rolls, M&Ms, carob raisins, salted almonds. 

I set my buffet with a tablescape that I loved, with a long swath of thrift store fabric along the top. 

The cake's top layer was lemon and the bottom layer was spice.  At the last minute I gathered twigs and berries from the yard to garnish the bottom. 

My emptied-out hand sewing basket held the favors. 

White pumpkins and gourds, a few leaves a rustic fork holder!

We drank hot spiced cider or Perrier and got very, very cozy in my small main room. It was a sweet afternoon!