A Pear-fect Christmas Table
As I get older I find myself less excited about Christmas as a time to receive gifts, but more as a time for play. For piles of foliage and beautiful paper and velvet ribbons. Decorating the tree is lovely but my nearly-5 year old is very much in charge of that, so at the top of my Christmas list is wreath making (see my previous post), closely followed by the Christmas table.
This year will forever be the one in which my little home was included in a beautiful book (in case you’re still in need of some presents), and when Abi and Ben were here for the shoot they christened my house Pear Cottage, because of how often that shape appears around the house. It is the most photogenic fruit, I won’t hear otherwise. So to mark this, I decided that this year the table theme had to revolve around the beautiful pear.
It’s really easy to create a statement table for when you’re entertaining, whether it’s to hold a full Christmas dinner or a delicious spread of buffet-style food, it makes a huge impact. All you need is a table cloth, that aforementioned heap of foliage, and your prettiest crockery. My aim this year is to start collecting vintage pieces, but in the meantime I always use my lovely rustic, high edged set from Also Home. My table cloth is pale natural linen, not ironed, never ironed, and it sits very nicely with the greenery. I used a leftover branch of pine from my wreath making, and an armful of berried eucalyptus which smells delicious and has a pleasing spindly quality when it nods its leaves.
Once you’ve set out your foliage as you like it, you can use decorative hardware to contain it - nobody wants eucalyptus in their gravy, so I use my tall candle holders to set a boundary, and then add pieces around them. Our old French schoolmaster’s table, or so we were told, is perfect for three in our narrow space, but can be a squeeze if seating four, so I can’t go too big with the decoration. Instead I’ve created a fresh, green runner, and let the glassware pick up the sparkle alongside. The russet-tinged pears that arrived in my Riverford box are the perfect finishing touch, alongside my pear napkin rings which I’ve had forever.
All that’s missing is some velvet ribbon.
