Company is Coming!!!

This little guy has been busy baking.

He got out the Southern Living Cookbook and

got busy making these yummy

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies.

A big hit with everyone!!!

Chocolate Pecan Chess Pie

from the November issue of Southern Living.

Rich, chocolately and DEE-licious!!!

And, a new tasty treat is the

Chocolate Popcorn -

another Southern Living Recipe.

Popcorn, peanuts and almonds

are coated with a delicious chocolate mixture.

And if you don't eat it all as it comes hot out of the oven,

it makes cute gift tied up in a cellophane bag.

Someone called their "spread" of food

a "Groaning Table".

Loaded with goodies.

The cloche has toys from our childhood.

My cooktop is in the island, so

sweetie made a nice large tray

to fit over the burners so

I can better utilize the area for serving.



The table in the breakfast is set with

my snowman dishes.

(A gift from a sweet friend.)

Oops, I made this pic before

I put the silverware on the table ---

just use your imagination!!!

This Jolly Ole Man

watches me while I'm in the kitchen.

Love the Christmas season

with all the

lights,

food,

decorations,

and

friends coming for dinner,

fun and fellowship!!!

What a blessing!

Merry Christmas to all

and God's richest blessings

upon you and yours during the coming

New Year.

John 3:16

I'm linking to

Come On Into The Dining room

Girls, I'm sorry for the dark pics.  If I use the flash, it seems too bright and if I don't, it's like this.  Stick with me as I try to get better.  Maybe I should have asked Santa for a new super-duper camera.  Or, perhaps I just need some photography lessons with the one I have.  Anyway...

I'm lovin' my new old server. 

We stumbled upon this piece on a Saturday browsing -

weren't really looking for anything -

the best time to find just the "right something".

It has such character - a

top drawer that is a removable serving tray.

The mirror was from an estate sale about

forty years ago and was goldish-bronze.

I toned it down a bit and had a new mirror cut.

It's one of my fav pieces.

The lamp is a Goodwill find.  I planned to cover the shade,

but I'm liking it plain and white for now.

The pretty silver tray was from Savers -

a store similar to Goodwill.

I make my DIL take me to all her

"good" shops when I visit.

(Better "stuff".)

The little wooden Santas are from an estate sale. 

They are handcarved from Germany.

Aren't they sweet.

The silver cups are another fun "find".

Two exposures of the china cabinet which holds all my

Cuthberson Christmas China - a real treasure to me.

I have been so blessed to have received

every piece as gifts down through the years.

The china cabinet is an old piece too.

Hubby restored it to its original state about twenty years ago.

It has tons of storage, too.

(That's a good thing - since I LOVE dishes and have quite a

few I need to store.)

Ahhh -

This exposure with the flash gets my vote. 

But, I know some of you don't like the flash pics.

The Santa is a gift from one of my 3rd Grade

Sunday School students.

The table is set and waiting for guests!

My new Santa

So dressed up in his

silver and gold.

Another "trash" find.

My sister was throwing this beautiful

candelabra away because it was

falling apart.  But,

my sweet hubby put it all

back together again.

Notice the pretty silver tray.

I found this treasure Friday in my

favorite "junk" store.

The pretty red swirl glasses are

a birthday gift from my Sisterchicks.

Just had to show you my pretty

Champagne Bucket.

I found this in the summer and could never

find anything that looked just right.

But I like the tree "planted" inside.

It sits among other silver pieces on the buffet.

Now, if I just had dinner ready,

I would ask you to stay.

Please come again.

I'm linking to:

Come In...It's Christmas All Through The House

I'm glad you stopped by. 

I just love having friends over and especially during the holidays when the house is all decorated for Christmas and there's excitement in the air.

So today, open the door and come on in.  But, please notice my new "funky" wreath.  So many of you have inspired me by making these cute wreaths.  So, my crafty friends and I got together and had fun creating one-of-a-kind welcoming wreaths for our doors.  Mine will change from Christmas to a spring wreath in a few months.

I sure hope ole Santa finds this key!!!

I had all these cute little metal ornaments.

I found this little shopper on a girlfriend trip to Charleston, SC.

She surely must have ALL of her shopping done.

Do you?

And, this happy snowman is from an

ornament gift exchange a few years ago.

Now come on into the

foyer.

One without the flash

and one with.

Couldn't decide which was better, so

you're getting both shots.

Prancer and Dancer

moved in here from the dining room

where they landed last year.

One woman's trash is

another woman's

TREASURE!!!

My sweet sis put this in the yard sale

and I snapped this jolly ole fellow up right away!!!

Just a little tree that sits here all year,

it's just adorned with twinkle lights and

a string of red berries for Christmas.

So y'all come back later and

I'll show you around the house.

Until then,

May God bless each of you

during this holy season.

I'm linking to

and to

Captured by Cloches

Hello Blogging Friends,

Never had I heard of a cloche until I met some of you and now I'm fascinated by them.  I look for them everywhere I go and have collected a few since my daughter gave me my first one for Christmas last year.  They do make anything you put underneath the bell-shaped glass a little more dramatic.

I want to link with the Cloche Party Marty is having, so I've been snapping pictures this morning.  You've seen some of these before on previous posts of mine, but some of the displays have changed.

This cloche is on my breakfast table and changes with the seasons.

I removed the cloche to show you the

pretty pear made out of natural materials.

My very first cloche - a Christmas gift - has glitzy pears I found at Pier 1 years ago.

I've brought some of my

plants from the porch

to save them from the chilly fall nights.

These cloches sit on top of an old wash stand in my breakfast nook.

We like old things - and our breakfast table is an old family heirloom. 

I know many of you paint your furniture and I adore the pretty pieces you

do with chalk paint; however, we have lived through the era of "antiquing" and

prefer our wooden pieces in their original state.  My husband has stripped many

antique pieces of the paint someone thought they wanted.

He would cringe if I thought about painting these old oak pieces.  

BUT,

I'm going to find an old piece and

try out the chalk paint on something

that isn't near and dear to our hearts.

Another gift from my daughter - not exactly a cloche,

 but Marty says it's ok for it to join the party too.

This piece changes seasonally, too and never sits in the same room for very long.

Hey, some of you make catty-corner pictures -

I thought I would try that technique too.

I don't like mine as much - maybe I am too catty-womphus. 

(Are these words found in Webster's?)

My ten-cent "cloche"

and two dollar silver pedestal.

Gotta love a bargain -

especially a pretty one.

 

Filled with fall pumpkins and orange dried natural balls of some sort. 

This little cloche just says

"Party"

with the colorful dots and

perky little pedestal.

This is actually a cheese dome

but today, it's a cloche

nestled among my fav recipe books.

I'm linking to Marty's Cloche Party.

 Thanks for stopping by.

I hope you enjoy the party

as much as I do.

Have a blessed day.