The Basic Set-up
The fork is on the left of the plate and can be placed on the napkin or to the left of the napkin.
Use a pretty paper towel as a placemat.
The cup is to the right of the plate, above the knife and spoon. The knife is laid blade-side in, with the spoon next it. Place both about 1 inch from the edge of the table; the spoon can be placed up just a bit.
Easy Centerpiece: Send your kids out to find leaves and nuts. Clean what they find, then place them in the arrangement and around the table. You can fill a glass bowl with them adding fruits and pine cones.
This centerpiece is a glass jar filled with potpourri and flowers bought at the store. The mouth of the jar is wrapped and tied with raffia ribbon. Fresh fall leaves were added for color.
Pretty cloth napkins can be unfolded to make placemats. Place cards can be cut from index cards, Thanksgiving/Christmas cards, or construction paper. Let your kids help make them.
Not enough room on the table? Transform your ironing board with a cloth and place your dishes on it. Decorate with little baskets and gourds. Make your main dish look extra special by surrounding it with an array of grapes and clementines.
Make Your Table Look as Good as Your Cooking!
Christmas breakfast can be a special time, whether in your jammies or dressed for the day. Set the table the night before so all you have to do in the morning is add the food. A few little favorite goodies can become the centerpiece.
Note: You always need napkins, but you may not always needs forks. That depends on what you’re going to serve.
Set up the same ironing board with a cloth over it (choose colors that can be used for more than one season/holiday), but add a sparkle to change it up for Christmas. Get free greens from the tree lot trimmings and add them. Use scarves or remnants of cloth from dollar stores to finish it off.
Here the centerpiece and napkin offers a coordinated look. Fold napkin square, left side first, followed by the right side, to look like a necktie. Place on the plate or to the side of the fork. Tie pretty ribbons around cinnamon sticks and set on top of the folded napkin.
A simple centerpiece uses a drinking glass filled with miniature Christmas ornaments and surrounded with fake (or real) pine sprigs.
Serve the salad and add extra color to the table. A place setting is always a lovely touch, especially if you have lots of family and friends over for dinner. Whole cinnamon sticks wrapped with pretty ribbons are a little gift they can take home to remember the night by. See the effect of having the napkin in the glass in the next picture. It’s the “wow” factor and takes less room on the table.
This centerpiece is a variation on using a glass with Christmas ornaments, but with a candle set in for evening light. You can place a number of small candles around the table and turn off the bright lights to create a warm glow. Add Christmas lights in the window and the memories only get better when you bring on the food and talk around the table.
