Mad for Christmas Plaid
Credit: Freepik
In my household, Christmas is our favorite holiday and we begin our celebration not long after the Thanksgiving turkey is put away. We start by bringing all our decorations out of storage and deciding what feels right to use for this year’s celebration. In the past, we had a red Buffalo Plaid-themed tree, complete with white lights, thematic ribbon and red, silver and gold ornaments.
For this year’s theme, we knew that whatever we chose had to be durable, as unbreakable as possible, to withstand the curiosity and playfulness of our 2-year old energetic extra large Labradoodle, Brady (as pictured below), who weighs in at about 93 pounds and 27-28” high. We lovingly joke that he is the size of a small horse. He’s hard to maneuver around in the household and he gets into everything because he is so tall. He can, and sometimes does, walk up to our dinner table and rest his head, looking at us with his big brown eyes and willing us to offer him a tasty morsel. I will admit, I’m guilty. I let him get away with a lot in our household because I get taken in by his cuteness more times than I care to count (that bandit!). So, we decided that we’d save our beautiful glass ornaments, lovingly collected over the years, for another Christmas celebration in the future - perhaps one after our mischievous pup has mellowed a bit.
In the end, we opted for colored lights to give our tree an overall cheery and festive look, and combined them with durable ornaments that included red wooden snowflakes, white plastic sparkly reindeer, gold-dusted pinecones, and sparkly plastic ball ornaments in silver, gold and red. We were quite happy with the overall result, although we noticed that ornaments kept migrating toward the top of the tree as we continuously relocated them to keep them out of Brady’s reach (ahem!).
Credit: Jennifer Sersun
Choosing a Christmas table theme
I had several ideas for the design direction: perhaps a woodsy winter theme, maybe red Buffalo Plaid to recall our tree from years past, or perhaps Christmas plaid. Whichever path I chose, I knew I wanted to give a nod to Santa and the magic of the season. As someone who is mad for plaid, and with limited opportunities to use my Ralph Lauren Christmas plaid tablecloth, I decided that I would use it as my focal point (sadly, it is not longer available, but this and this are similar).
Credit: Jennifer Sersun
Mad for Christmas plaid
Because I love this plaid so much and wanted to showcase it front and center, I decided I would keep toppings to a minimum. For the place settings, I used braided hyacinth placemats for a rustic element in line with my coastal home location and to contrast with the formality of my classic platinum-rimmed Lenox Tribeca fine china (discontinued, but pieces are available here). I paired this look with pinecone and twine napkin rings that I found at Hobby Lobby, along with fresh sprigs of pine. To round out the place setting, I used my everyday Oneida flatware with a hammered metal texture, Ralph Lauren Glen Plaid glasses, and Zweisel Glass universal wineglasses.
What’s Christmas without Santa?
Though my kids no longer believe in Santa, we all enjoy the folklore of Santa. For my centerpiece, I started with a rustic wood and metal octagonal tray, added a silver mercury glass candle holder that I found at Home Goods, and paired it with a miniature faux pine wreath, mini silver ornaments and mini gold pinecones. I topped it off with the sparkly red ‘believe’ sign just for Santa. I found the sign at Hobby Lobby in unfinished cardboard. To bring it to life and give it a little Christmas magic, I painted it a sparkly red with some acrylic red paint and several coats of red Martha Stewart glitter paint. Now we are ready for our Christmas holiday meal and for Santa to arrive!