Table Settings

Hydrangeas from my garden.

I love to surf the net and look at pretty pictures of other people homes and how they decorate them. Lately it seems that setting a table has been raised to an art form. It's actually called 'Table Scaping' these days. The magazine Southern Lady is devoted to table scapes and party food, the pictures are incredibly beautiful and the recipes are good too.

Whenever our family has a special event such as a birthday or graduation we usually go out to eat. It's easy, someone else does the cooking and since we always go to a sit down restaurant someone else has already set the table.

G's birthday; blue placemat, glasses, and blue dragonfly napkin rings.

I wish the hydrangeas had been blooming, they would have been perfect for the table.

On the few occasions that I've cooked the meal I've always served it 'Redneck Buffet' style. That's where when you finish cooking the food you holler "Yall come and get it". Then the family rushes into the kitchen and a melee breaks out as they each try to get their own plate, drinking glass, silverware and so on. Then the real fun begins as they all gather around the stove trying to reach the pots so they can serve their own food. Phrases like "did someone fix the baby's plate?" two people answer "yeah, I got it" so then they need to decide what to do with the extra food.

I used the dessert plates I got at GW; paid .50 cents each. I got the glasses at GW for .25 cents each. The white dishes underneath at Mikasa "Country French", I bought them on sale at Belk.

All too often there's the exchange of "there's not enough forks" - "well wash one”. And sometimes you'll hear, "Damn K, leave some fur the rest of us".

When T was little I would sing "You are my sunshine" to her; so I set her table in sunshine yellow. I used the same plates as before but different placemats and glasses. Since I only have 4 of the dessert plates from GW (I'll find more one day, trust me) I used 2 plates from my other dishes to fill in.

Sometimes there’ll be a straggler to the table because they had to get to a ‘good stopping’ place on their internet game before they could come. Most of us will be sitting at the table while this person is fixing their plate. So G will say to them; “Bow yer head so we can say the bless’n”. Then those of us at the table will join hands and bow our head while the straggler stands at the stove with their head bowed (at least they’re suppose to) then G says the prayer.

Isn't it amazing how just changing the color of the placemats and glasses changes the whole look of the table?

Next comes a chorus of ‘wur’s the salt?’ ‘Do we have any pepper sauce’, ‘I need a payper towel’. So someone will get up and go back into the kitchen to get the salt and such, then someone will say, ‘while yer in there can ya bring the tea back with ya’.

Since K was born in July and was just back from Iraq I set the table in red, white and blue.

We were having his favorite meal of Buffalo Wings that day so I used disposable plates and cups

but I think it looks nice all the same.

So you might imagine G surprise when this year for his birthday I not only cooked a full meal but I set the table and put the food on it, I even remembered to put the tea on the sideboard before we started to eat. I like the results so much that I have continued to it for each family event. And I plan to add to my collection of tableware and linens.

I bought this tablecloth at GW for $3.

The Southern spellings are for your enjoyment. I apologize for the space of the text but blogger is a pain at times.

You can find other tablescapes at Between Naps on the Porch.