Christmas Eve Feast

What a splendid Christmas Eve we had

here at Purple Chocolat Home.

It is always a highlight of Christmas for me.

I love to have the music playing and to be 

setting the table in anticipation of the 

night.  

It is always a formal dinner like my aunt used to 

do it at her house.  I have such fond memories of

dressing up and knowing we would all be seated

at a beautiful table that I have continued that

tradition through all the years of marriage.

The family is big now.  We all love to crowd 

around the same table so a few years ago we started

moving the furntiture out of the great room and

setting up tables.  This year I put two 8 foot

tables side by side to fit 16 of us.

In the pictures the cloth looks pink but it is

really two oblong red cloths covered with

this beautiful gold embellished fabric that 

I had purchased from JoAnn fabrics.

The gold is so elegant for Christmas Eve.

I started with these gold plated ceramic chargers

that weigh a ton.  I purchased them years ago

at Target.  They are topped with my gold-rimmed

china.   This is the only china I own.  A gold embellished

napkin from Home Goods is topped with my gold flatware

I got from Neiman Marcus for Christmas 2012.

You can see the whole topper is dotted

with metallic gold.  I didn't have any purpose

for the fabric when I purchased it a while ago

but luckily I got enough to cover two 8 foot

tables!

Gold candles and a tree create the lush centerpiece.

The tree lights up and is surrounded

by gold candles and lanterns perfect

for a beautiful night time table.

These beautiful goblets add to the

elegance of the table.  These are my

Home Goods version of my more

expensive gold goblets so I can let

the children drink from them.

Everything looks so pretty lined up down

the side of the table.

But the real view is from up above.

Here is a shot from up on the balcony.  

This gold flatware is so elegant.

I am so glad that I bought these from

Neiman Marcus a couple of years ago.  They are

discontinued now and I just love their size

and elegance.  

They are Ricci Raffaelo, gold plated flatware.

Nieman Marcus still carries them in stainless.

I just shopped around the house for

the vignette in the center of the table.

Gold rimmed wavy glass bowls are

placed to catch empty king crab shells

around the table.  These beautiful and

extremely heavy bowls and plates plus

the chargers were purchased probably

20 years ago at Target when they used

to have marvelous dishes for Christmas.

We are all ready!

I really do like to set the table by myself.

It just makes me happy!

We always have this same menu

for Christmas Eve.  It is everyone's favorite.

I hope you had a wonderful 

Christmas too.  Our highlight was talking to

our missionary son from Korea for one hour

at 7:00 after we had eaten.

What a miracle it is to be able to communicate

across the world so easily.

I will be posting this table with

Tablescapes Thursday