When I was in grade school…I LOVED Holidays, because it meant construction paper projects, holiday shaped sugar cookies and a fun party with all my friends.
I looked forward to ANYTHING that allowed me to get creative…. instead of wasting my talents on multiplication tables, Spelling Tests, and Book Reports!
Although, later in my academic years…I excelled at those subjects….well, except for math, but we won’t go there.
Of course, sometimes even the simplest task of making a jack-o-lantern out of black and orange construction paper could be a challenge.
In the beginning at least.
The teacher’s model!
Mine usually looked like this one!
And there was always …..yes, in every class I attended during my elementary years…..
……that cute little girl with her blonde hair…. all in pretty little curls, accented with a hair ribbon that matched her dress. Yes, that perfectly starched dress with a bit of crinoline underneath to make it stand out a bit, showing her pretty little legs in her pretty little white stockings and her pretty little patent leather shoes.
You know the one I am talking about. She sat just in front of you and to the left.
Yeah…her. That is the one. Think Charley Brown’s Little Red Haired Girl and you will have the picture.
The pretty little girl is also the one whose mother always brought the perfectly baked, shaped and frosted sugar cookies for the school Holiday party…which were utterly addicting and delicious. In my 7 year old opinion, that made the pretty little girl my new best friend.
Yep! Those cookies were really special, unlike some of the other Mother’s, (mine included) store bought cookies!
Or if we were lucky, home baked cupcakes with chocolate icing quickly slapped on the cupcake at 7 a.m. before school, because someone forgot to tell their working Mother’s of their turn to provide the snack or treat.
I may or may not have been one of those kids a time or two. 😉
But fancy or not…the taste was always good, so there was no right or wrong to these snacks and treats.
In my opinion, it was all in the eye of the beholder…and the celebration of the occasion.
It was the Holidays that I enjoyed the most at school, and is most likely why to this day, I love to entertain, decorate and set up tablescapes.
Which leads me to my very neutral and natural tablescape for today.
Fall is really changing colors….no, I mean really, really changing colors as in from all oranges, blacks, reds, browns, rusts, yellows to blues, greens, pinks…. and neutrals and naturals!
I started with a burlap table runner and I added the little squirrel and acorn salt and pepper shaker which adds a bit of whimsy.
I really like the neutral and natural look almost as much as the traditional Autumn colors. Those colors will never be completely replaced but the naturals and neutrals are a soft reminder that there is a place for everything and everyone.
In this tablescape I used a dough bowl and filled it with pine cones, little white baby boo pumpkins which have become a favorite of mine. If you can not find white baby boo pumpkins in your area, you can paint orange faux mini pumpkins. See the “how to” at this link: A Blue Pumpkin Patch
I used wood, rope and grapevine balls and other natural fillers for my dough bowl.
I used tan, linen napkins which I rolled and secured with wood and rattan napkin rings.
The place setting consists of a lacy rattan charger, white ironstone dinner plate and a salad plate that has a neutral highlight over the raised edges.
I like the simplicity of this table setting.
Adding to the simplicity are the brown handled flatware and brown stemmed glassed to complete the look.
For this informal and natural tablescape, mercury glass candle holders and white chunky candles blend nicely with the rustic woods.
A mix of rustic with a bit of luxe. I like the juxtaposition of these things.
So you see, the decor is all in the eye of the beholder and there is room for all of us!
Have a blessed day and hugs always!
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