Hasn’t it been an incredibly beautiful autumn? Watching the leaves turn their magnificent shades of russet and gold put me quickly in the mood for fires, feasts and long evenings spent with my family. It’s been blissful eating comforting foods and quietly enjoying each others companionship, but the wheel of the year has turned once again and the excitement of the Yule season is now upon us. I’m already decorating my home, planning my menus and of course trying to decide how to set my holiday tables, a task that for me is always the most fun of all!
But first, to put you in the mood……
I’ve been writing for quite some time now about family gatherings, and what they mean to us. As I was growing up, there were beautiful things that my mother always used on her table, seasonal items that made each celebration unique. In the days that follow I will be writing about this even more than usual as my way of honoring this magical and sacred season.
Many of us have beautiful pieces of antique silver, pewter and crystal, gorgeous family pieces that have been stashed away and rarely used. I encourage you to examine those long ignored treasures for a suitable vessel to create your holiday tables and centerpieces, forgotten treasures like Revere bowls made of silverplate and pewter. So many of us have a ton of these just sitting around in all sizes, but no one ever remembers why we used them!
So how can you use all of your Revere bowls during the holidays?
Fill them with:
Potpourri and scented pinecones- Make sure that the bowl you use has either an enamel or plastic liner.
Flowers- You’ll need foam or a flower frog to help them stand correctly in the bowl!
Candy and Nuts
Ice and Wine bottles if the bowl is large enough!
Bourbon milk punch or eggnog!
All kinds of Dips!
Use them as serving bowls for cooked vegetables, sauces and stews of all kinds!
Many pieces of silver can be used as centerpieces, even if this was not their original purpose. Punch bowls make lovely centerpieces as do soup tureens. A great punch bowl, whether made of Glass, Pewter, Crystal ,Plastic or Silver can serve several purposes in a hurry. Obviously, you can serve punch in it as you’ll see below, but you can also serve chilled soup in it and if you need a wine or ice bucket there’s no more stylish candidate. Always put a tray under it which you can decorate with pine boughs, flowers and fresh herbs so it doesn’t sweat!
I’ve even used a tea service as a beautiful seasonal arrangement by filling each piece with flowers and surrounding them with pine boughs and pine cones, fruit and nuts.
Single salt cellars, demitasse cups or antique cordial glasses each filled with a small bouquet can be used as individual centerpieces on your table, making each guest feel very special. Once you’ve chosen the pieces to work with, the fun begins! Have fun arranging them so that all of the magic and beauty of the season spills out everywhere!
A simple trip to the grocery store will provide you with lots of inspiration! Lady apples that you can paint and/or gild, fresh sweet cherries, French chestnuts, burnished pears and pomegranates, Buddhas hand citron and sweet mandarin oranges. In December the choices are endless! Don’t forget some berry branches, pine or hemlock boughs and roses to poke in and out of the abundance of fruit. If you use roses, don’t forget the florist’s tubes so that they stay fresh.
One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is force Narcissus bulbs in pretty bowls to have all around the house because when they bloom, they smell so incredibly good! Most garden centers have them in stock right now and even though it’s a little bit late you can still have fun growing them. Just find some pretty crystal, glass or pottery bowls that you like and fill them with lots of small white stones. The containers should be fairly deep because the root structure will get big very quickly. Next, add water to the container just so that the bottoms of the bulbs are touching the water. The bulbs should not be submerged in water!
You can even force Paper White bulbs in a tall vase which is pretty lovely, because then the stems are completely supported. Water them daily just so that the roots stay wet and in about 4 weeks you’ll have beautiful blooms whose fragrance blends so wonderfully with all of the other seasonal scents like rose, pine, orange, frankincense, myrrh and cinnamon .
I love punch recipes and I have dozens of them because I learned a long time ago that punch is one of the delightfully festive AND economical beverages that you can serve at a party. Also? I learned to make them out of necessity because I was left at least 4 punch bowls by my mother who loved them.
Below you’ll find one of my favorite punch recipes, one that I always prepare for the Winter Solstice.
My Winter Solstice Punch is really delicious and it packs a pretty festive punch! I know you’ll enjoy it if you try it!
Spiced Honey Syrup
2 cups of spiced honey syrup - To make a simple honey syrup just take equal parts honey and water, place them into a saucepan and heat them until the honey has melted into the water. Add the winter spices of your choice and let it steep for a couple of hours. You can make stronger flavored and thicker syrup by using two parts honey to one part water. Honey syrup will keep for up to two weeks in a capped jar.
Use this to sweeten tea and flavor all sorts of holiday punches and desserts!
Winter Solstice Punch
2 cups of spiced honey syrup - recipe above
2 cups of brewed Chai tea
4 Cups cran-apple juice
4 Cups orange juice
1 bottle of Claret or Merlot
3 bottles of sweet hard cider - I like Samuel Adams or Angry Orchard the best for this recipe.
Be careful! This is surprisingly potent.
Make sure that everything is well chilled! Un-mold and place your frozen ice ring into your punch bowl and pour all of the ingredients over the top. Serve each glass with best wishes for a wonderful year ahead!
To make a ice ring all you’ll need is a pretty jello mold. Almost no one uses them for jello anymore so I’ve been finding lovely vintage ones at my local thrift stores!
Use all different kinds of Frozen Fruit. Here I was going for a Della Robbia effect so I used berries, peaches, cranberries and grapes. Frozen spiced Crabapples are wonderful too if you have them.
Sweet Herbs- Edible Geranium leaves, Lemon Thyme, Lemon Balm, Verbena, Lavender, Rosemary, Anise Hyssop & Pineapple Sage leaves and Flowers.
Bottled juice- I use bottled juice for this because of its clarity. White peach, White grape, Cranberry, Cran-apple & Pear.
Layer the fruit and herbs. I generally put the herbs closer to the bottom, so that when you un-mold this they will be on the top! Because the fruit is frozen you can fill up the ring and it won’t float. Add the juice and freeze the ring until solid. Un-mold by dipping the ring into hot water for about 25 seconds.
This year, teach your children or grandchildren to cook with you, or let them help you set the table, and arrange the flowers so that they’ll always know what to do when they have families of their own. Bundle up your children and send them outside for acorns, pine cones, rosehips, seed pods, Osage Orange balls and beautiful leaves to bring a bit of the season’s wildness into your holiday arrangements.
Have fun teaching them to make the ancient craft of clove studded orange pomanders, one of the loveliest and easiest Christmas decorations. All you need to make these are oranges and cloves and all of your creativity! Warm the oranges in your hand and smell the wonderful essential oils that are released. Then use the cloves to pierce the orange skin and make designs . With each clove you put in think of all of the wonderful things that you love in your life. When you finish each orange, hold it, make a wish and place it in your centerpiece or on your mantle.
On Thanksgiving and Christmas, one of our favorite family traditions is to go around the table and have each person share what they are grateful for that year.
Please don’t leave the table without letting everyone sitting around it know just how much they mean to you.
Another holiday tradition that I absolutely love is to have everyone who joins us for a meal bring something to share that they ate with their families, in a serving piece that is special to them.
We can all discover new ways of connecting the old with the new, ways of creating traditions that are personal and related in a world that is quickly losing its sense of peace and security.
Those are a few of mine and I’d love to know some of yours! Please feel free to share them with me in the comments!
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Thank you!
Thymeless Quotes:
We watch this every year at midnight with our son and daughter in love and this year, Wolfie, our brand new grandson. This is one song from this delightful musical that’s absolutely wonderful and says it all.
Wondrous newsletter! I’ll be making some of your amazing treats! Love the music too! Thank you, and happy holidays! Xoxo-Laurie