Being laid up this Christmas forced me to slow down, take it easy, and back off on the usual excess.

I’m sure you are now expecting me to say something along the lines of, “Man, slowing down and taking it easy sure did feel great! I’m going to try and do that next year and in all the years to come!”

Um, No!  In fact, it didn’t feel all that good. I love going crazy at Christmas! I thrive in the excess, the excitement, and the commotion. I am in my element in the hustle and the bustle.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoyed this Christmas.

How could I not? My injury is minor compared to what it could have been! Both of my kids are home, which is, and will always be, the best present of all! We still went to Christmas Eve mass and had my mom and sister over for Christmas Eve dinner.  We still relaxed and hung out on Christmas day with my dad.

But, I’d planned to do so much more. Create, grocery shop for, and execute two big meals. Decorate more! Be creative and make more crafty Pinterest-worthy homemade stuff.

That’s OK. Next year!

So, this year, instead of the usual crown pork roast on Christmas Eve, we had a HoneyBaked Ham. (Thank you, sweet Amy, for picking that up for me!) We served the ham on King’s Hawaiian rolls with my homemade mustards and horseradish.

Marissa and Connor worked together to make our favorite Brussels Sprout Salad plus a Haricot Verts Salad.

Sloane brought over a bread pudding and I made a simple rum sauce for it. We served that along with the Freezer Eggnog Pie for dessert.

All of it was simple, festive, easy, and delicious.

Sadly, we did not have our traditional potato rolls and they were sorely missed.  Thankfully, I did have enough of the dough leftover from Thanksgiving, that I had frozen, so we still had our traditional Cinnamon Rolls and Brown Sugar Bacon on Christmas morning.  The only difference – Marissa made the sweet rolls this year ~ and they were perfect!

Above you can see her mixing the cinnamon and sugar together before sprinkling it onto the dough she rolled out into the perfect 10-inch by 16-inch rectangle.  There on the island, in the background, is the bacon, ready for the oven.

And instead of the usual beef tenderloin for Christmas dinner, we had fondue! Blue Cheese Fondue, and it was delicious and fun! Marissa made the fondue and Connor helped with the dippers, the prep, and clean-up.

I have the best kids in the world!

Yes, I adore them, today and every day! They even posed, trying to reenact a portrait that they sat for some 19 years ago. At 21, Connor doesn’t quite have that 2-year-old pout down anymore, but they’re still cute!

OK, enough about how fabulous my kids are and what we ate!

Time to get down to business – the tablescapes!

Since I wasn’t able to help much with clean-up, I went low-key on that too. None of the usual hand-washing of dishes on Christmas Eve, everything was dishwasher-safe.

[Read more →]

Since Marissa and Dave’s mom fly back home today and Connor heads back to school, Thanksgiving is officially over at the Hopkins’ home. Let’s take one last glance back before the Christmas holiday crush begins.

My 2012 Thanksgiving tablescape and buffets were a lovely mix of pumpkins, silver, and burlap, vintage and new.

To begin, I laid my burlap runner diagonally down the center of the table and placed a burlap placemat on the seat.

I hollowed out one of the blue-green Jarrahdale pumpkins and used it as the container for the central floral part of the centerpiece. Originally I planned to set it atop a Bordallo Pinheiro Cabbage Leaf pedestal plate, but it was too high and would have prevented guests from seeing each other.

It was the perfect height on an oval maroon Bordallo Pinheiro grape leaf platter.

A silver charger was set down at each place and then every other place setting received either this vintage Johnson Brothers Native American Wild Turkey dinner plate or…

… this is Johnson Brothers’ “Wild Turkeys” dinner plate.

More Johnson Brothers plates were added next – a Friendly Village bowl went atop the dinner plate and the Johnson Brothers Friendly Village square salad plate was placed at the top left as a bread plate. Mixed pattern flatware and a stag horn steak knife were set in their proper places.

[Read more →]

On Saturday, my friend and neighbor, Amy (that would the Amy – as in Amy’s Famous Taco Soup) hosted a French-themed baby shower for her girlfriend, Melissa.  It is true, I can’t mention Amy without referring to her soup.  Sorry, I simply cannot! I mean, I love soup and I love Amy, so it is just impossible.

Anyhow, back to the baby shower. Since I have a truckload of French stuff, Amy and Melissa asked if I’d help with buffet tablescapes. Yes, of course, I would love to!

Seriously, if I don’t use as much of my “stuff” as often and in as many ways as possible, how am I going to continue convincing Dave that I NEED and USE this stuff.  Matter of fact, I’ve loaned out my French “props” twice in the month of April alone.  First, decorate the stage at the Jacques Pepin taping and again for this adorable baby shower. Proof positive that my treasures are not junk to be easily disposed of.  See ladies, you were doing me the favor, not the other way around.  Thank you!

Back to the baby shower, again! At the time the invites went out, Melissa did not know the sex of the baby. So instead of the usual baby colors of pink or blue for the theme, she chose lavender. Reminiscent of the lavender fields throughout the French countryside.  So Pretty!

Amusez-vous s’il vous plaît ! (enjoy please!)

[Read more →]

Groovy Flowers + Lemons = Stupendous Centerpieces!

My Bestie, Amy, who you already know from Amy’s Famous Taco Soup – is always in charge of making cute name tags for our neighborhood soirées  – love those blinged out peace signs, Amy!

More peace signs along with smiley faces, a flower power table runner, and 70’s album covers were the decor at Rainy and Trent’s ultra cool and “Mod Squad-esque” home.

[Read more →]

I know I said that today I would post the pictures and answers from yesterday’s game, “What the Heck is That?!?”. I’m going to hold off for a day or two. Maybe by then more of you will play the game. (see the image above of a very sad face). To be fair, I have sent the answers to Dagmar, the only participant besides Marissa. Thanks for playing, Dagmar! (happy face!)

So, what to do today… how about I show you my plans for Saturday? A dress rehearsal of sorts. This Saturday I am delivering on an auction donation I made for a very worthy cause. The donation was this.

The winners of the item chose to have the dinner at my house, so I’ve been busy for the last several days trying to find and round up all my “clambake” “beachy” stuff. Turns out I have a whole bunch of it, even though I live in the dry arid desert. Here is what I was able to find in my cupboards, garage, storage sheds, etc.

I know it’s hard to tell what is what in this photo, so how about some closeups? (not as closeup as the photos in the game that I’d love for you to play), but just closeup enough to explain what things are and what I’ve done with it all.

[Read more →]