Merry Christmas!
Month: December 2013
Sparkly Dinner Setting
I had real guests over last night for my first dinner party in my newly redesigned dining room. The best part about the preparations was that one of the guests was doing all the cooking, allowing me to go all “Martha Stewart” with the ambience and table setting. The key to the look was the wonderful domed putz castle purchased through Anthropologie, which I then placed on an antique glass cake stand. By setting this whole arrangement onto a silver charger, I was able to maximize illumination by placing glass votives on the charger’s level rim.
Since I have already written about the porcelain,Venetian goblets, linen, and sterling flatware, I will instead explain the reason for the crazy water glasses. They’re vintage highballs featuring turquoise and gold Persian horsemen waving mallets in a lively game of polo. Over the past twelve years, I have managed to break most of my larger Venetian goblets and lacked two to make four complete place settings of one water and one wine goblet each. And I keep forgetting to order more from the original Murano source, Vetreria Colonna Fornace. Hence the crazy fun tumblers. To see the complete table setting, click the link below.
Holiday Putz
The term “putz” was derived from the German verb putzen, which means “to clean” or “to decorate.” Originally, putz was a Moravian tradition that started about a century and a half ago when families created nativity scenes from organic materials as an annual holiday activity. By the twentieth century, putz creations had become secular, larger and more elaborate, and instead of nativity scenes, there were farms, villages, and toy trains. After World War II, Japanese companies started to mass produce cardboard structures with sparkly snow and colored cellophane windows that glowed when a C6 light bulb was inserted through a hole in the back. Nowadays, you see ceramic or plastic Christmas villages everywhere, but to me, these lack the putz charm of yore.
Thank goodness, the old hand-crafted paper and often crude putz structures from last century have been rediscovered and are being reproduced today. The two houses that I purchased were handmade here in the States. To see my second sparkly house, click on the link below.
One More Quiet Moment
This pair of bronze Art Deco bookends is like the eye of the storm. It’s music you can’t hear, a little quiet moment during the holiday insanity.
I wanted to start a fun post series showcasing a few unique Christmas tabletop ornaments that I have recently purchased, but I have had nothing but bad luck with shipping. Therefore, nothing to show you yet. A large glass domed piece arrived today shattered, because it had been packed within a styrofoam container which was then placed loose inside a much larger box. “Fragile” was written on the inside box, but not the outside one. Someone clearly left their brains behind after Thanksgiving, and more than likely, will not return mentally to their job until after Valentine’s Day.