A New Chickadee Christmas Table

Last year I had a chickadee Christmas table—so fun!  Well, this year, I have a NEW chickadee table, and I couldn’t be more excited.  Last year’s dishes had to be returned :(, so I was chickadee-less for several months :( again.  So IMAGINE, if you can, my joy when I learned about Boehm’s Chickadees and Holly pattern.  I quickly went to my trusted resource, replacements.com and yes! they are lovely dishes!  And now they are MINE! living exactly where they should be living—at Chickadee Home Nest!
Have you heard of Boehm china?  I had not…where have I been?!  Here’s a little bit about it:  American company Boehm Porcelain has been producing the finest porcelain flora and fauna sculptures available since 1950. Inspired by the delicateness, complexity and vibrancy of nature's own artistry, Boehm's renderings of flora and fauna are cast from only the purest white clay, and created by singularly talented artisans with painstaking attention to detail to produce breathtaking original works of art available in both open and limited-edition collections. (Source: wildlife.com)
And so it is that they came to live at our house…happy me!  There’s always room for more chickadees at this nest!

Are they just precious?  See the bottom right, where the china is “signed” `Boehm’?  I find that so interesting.  I wish you could see the detail of the art…it looks as though you can see brushstrokes.  Let’s take a closer look:

And here is the table I set for their homecoming dinner ~

You might remember the red Pottery Barn champagne/footed goblets from other posts.  In fact, I used them last year too, for that Chickadee Table:  http://chickadeehomenest.blogspot.com/2011/12/chickadee-christmas-table.html.    And I also used them for a Fourth of July table: http://chickadeehomenest.blogspot.com/2012/06/4th-of-july-table-and-more.html.  I like red accent pieces because you can use it for so many holidays, and I’ve certainly gotten my {sweet husband’s} money’s worth out of these!  How did he know I needed these?!

The centerpiece was super easy to make.  I used one of my favorite pieces—a red serving plate (gift from my youngest son…he knows I like red), as the under-plate, and placed a silver casserole that I really wanted to use this season, because it belonged to my dear SIL’s father, who passed away earlier this year.  I’m so happy to have it in our home.  To that I added a very vintage pressed glass compote, then filled the casserole with large “picks” (as in already put together) and a few fillers.  In the compote I used an arrangement I’d made for last year’s table and filled the gaps with pinecones and other fillers.

Texture is so important for adding interest to a table, and one of the pieces that made a huge difference this year was the jingle bell garland.  The instant I saw it at Pine Tree Barn (http://pinetreebarn.com/) I knew it was going home with me.  I haven’t seen them anywhere else, but I imagine the good folks at Pine Tree Barn would be more than happy to ship them to you.

Some close-ups for those of us who savor every detail~ I wouldn’t want to leave you wanting for more.

For soooo long I wanted vintage, etched goblets, and now I have several sets of various patterns.  I.cannot.get.enough.of.them.  This pattern (I don’t know the name) in particular, because of the vertical lines, catches the light beautifully, and if you look closely, there are “berries” in the design, following the berries throughout the table.  The wine stem is Waterford Alana, also a vintage pattern.

The darling S&P set is also a gift from our youngest and his darling…perfect for this table.

I love having the sweet grandbabies’ highchair right by our family table, and here it’s pressed into service for after-dinner coffee.

Napkins and Williams-Sonoma crystal “candy cane” stirrers in a Waterford vase.

Are you a red-and-green Christmas person, or have you gone to other combinations that are now faves?  I always seem to gravitate back to the red and green, and then I’m ready for muteds or soft whites by the end of the season.

If you like what you see a lot, maybe you’d like to +1 this post or pin it on Pinterest too! And, I invite you to follow me. If you’ll let me know that you’re following, I’ll be sure to follow you back.

Happy holidays to all!  May your season be warm, calm, filled with music and beautiful things to reflect on the true reason we join together to celebrate.

Here’s where I’ll be seen this week; I hope you’ll stop by too.  They will be fun, fun parties with lots of great ideas sure to please.

Tuesdays at http://www.astrollthrulife.net/
Wednesdays at Let’s Dish: http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/
Wednesdays at Wow Us: http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/
Thursdays at Tabletop Thursday: http://betweennapsontheporch.net/
Thursdays at Home Sweet Home: http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/
Fridays at Feathered Nest: http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/
Sundays at The Tablescaper: http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/