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Christmas in the Kitchen

CHRISTMAS

It’s totally fruity for me to be posting Christmas tablesettings after the fact…and not good fruity like a fresh strawberry in chocolate bouquet from Edible Arrangements…more like last year’s hard fruitcake…that tasted old then.  I won’t deny it…I will however justify it.  Technically speaking, our Christmas isn’t over until Saturday, New Year’s Eve…simply because that is when we are doing my side of the family gift exchange and big family photo.  I think that is totally normal right?  To have a spread out Christmas?

No?    Well, we were never normal anyway.

Let’s see the kitchen table this year for Jeremy’s annual waffle breakfast…

I bought almost everything new.  I splurged.

The tablecloth, the mugs, the plates, the salt and pepper shaker…new new new.

Everything else…old.  Including the candy canes.  Those don’t expire right?  Because I totally have eaten one.  and fed one to Will.  oops.

I got all the new stuff at Walmart.  I was the lucky girl who was following the “Discount Marker Chick” – that’s her title I’m sure – as she put the new prices on all the Christmas stuff.  Yup.  This was the first week of December and things were getting clearanced out.  CRAZY.  That is just ludicrus to me…

The big plates were $1.  The small plates were $1.  The mugs…I’ll let ya guess.  DING DING DING!  Yup – ONE DOLLAR.

And these little Santa’s were $1.

I saw in the Pottery Barn magazine that they were selling Santa mugs for $20 for 4…and the vintage ones I’ve seen in the antique stores are usually $7 a piece AT LEAST…so I really feel like this was a good deal.

And the table cloth was $2.  So overall – this kidfriendly tablesetting ran me about $21.  Not too shabby.

And since we are already in the kitchen, I wanted to share with you a review of a couple of handmade aprons I received from a very sweet girl named Mecca.  She asked if I would be willing to test out a few of her kitchen aprons…um yeah…quicker than Frosty can melt in my sweaty armpit!  Sorry about the visual.  She creates them for her etsy shop which is named after her mom (I love her for that!)…it’s called Ann Perry Designs.

After church I slipped on this holiday one as I whipped up lunch.  It’s so fancy.  The christmas colors actually match what we were going for this year – so I feel like it was meant to be mine 🙂

And my favorite was the full coverage in purple – it’s called the Mallory.  Now let me tell you something about aprons – I don’t need pockets…I’ll just forget the trash in there…I need RUFFLES.  And a tie back around the neck that doesn’t pinch…or have metal that pulls my hair.  This plus a wide waistband…and generous coverage…perfect!  This apron delivered…for ‘mock stirring’ with Will or for bacon splatters 🙂

 

Consider me officially a fan Mecca.  You make some darn well-made aprons that get the job done.

 

So if you are in the mood for spending your Christmas cash – and you need to spend more time in the kitchen this year cooking up healthy foods for you and your family…you might want to consider pampering yourself with one of these first.  Plus – right now Mecca is offering Bower Power readers 15% off until January 1st!  Check out her other designs here.

And after you do that…come back and tell me about your Christmas.  Did you split family time?  Are you still celebrating?  Did you have waffles on Christmas morning too?  Are you awkward at posing in an apron when someone is taking your photo?  Wow…we have so much in common 🙂

 

p.s.  For more Christmas tablesettings of yore (that means past, right?)….click here…and here….and here…

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Comments

  1. Looks great! Love the aprons (although I don’t cook enough to justify an apron).

    Our Christmas celebration stretches the week…glad to see someone else does that too!

  2. Katie – no worries about still posting Christmas stuff. Truly technically speaking Christmas isn’t over until Epiphany, January 6! The 12 days is Christmas actually start on Christmas day and go until January 5.

  3. We’re still celebrating around here. My husband’s birthday (40!!) is today. Our second round of out-of-town guests arrived last night. Love the fab finds from Walmart – checked them out myself. LOVE the Mallory!! I’m no chef, but I am not above dressing up to make mac-n-cheese. 🙂

  4. You looked total darling in your apron posing pictures. I think I like the purple ruffled one better too, just because I’m a mess in the kitchen and I need way more coverage. Very cute table setting, even if it cost you $21, you can use it for years to come! We live in ny and both of our parents live in nj, they live 30 minutes away from us, and 10 minutes away from each other. So we always do lunch at my moms and dinner at his moms. It’s nice, but I wouldn’t mind splitting it up so we could spend longer than a few hours at each.

  6. Yup! I’m with Ellen on this one. Christmas season lasts through January 5th, and then ends with Epiphany on January 6th. So, the 12 days of Christmas are still going strong! We’re on day 3 of Christmas! People are always asking us why we haven’t taken our lights down right after Christmas and we are always like… CHRISTMAS ISN’T OVER AND IT’S THE GREATEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! There is actually an old Epiphany tradition called the Burning of the Greens. It celebrates the end of the Christmas season with a huge bonfire that everyone throws their dried out Christmas trees, wreaths, and garlands on to (if they are real evergreen, of course). It’s a hoot!

    Love the table setting! Super, super cheerful! And the aprons are to die for adorable!!

  7. Love the table setting – can’t believe how much you paid for it all! I love aprons – my friend got me one for my bridal shower this year and I love it so much that I bought one for my sister for Christmas (It’s super preppy).

  8. Those aprons are cute! Especially the ruffled one. And your table setting was quite fun. I bet Will loved it. 🙂 And don’t worry, you’re not the only ones spreading Christmas out. We’ll be celebrating with my in-laws New Year’s weekend.

  10. A spread out Christmas means less stress. It’s the way to go, for sure. Our celebrations started the week before, so I’m about to take down the decorations and get my house back to normal.

  11. You can post anything anytime you want! Need to know where your cute little shoes are from in the bottom picture and what kind of jeans do you wear? Your so darn cute! Also a fan of the purple apron. Going to go check that out.

  12. Love the table setting! We actually got those mugs for Christmas from my mom – now I want to go back & get the rest of the table setting! Also LOOOOVE the aprons. Never really desired an apron before, but I may just have to get one now.

    And yes – it’s totally normal to split & spread out Christmas. How else would you do it all?!?! Keep Christmas going, KB!

  13. haha…thanks Jessica 🙂
    The shoes are Rocketdog – I got them at Shoe Carnival (I think…it’s BOGO1/2) and the jeans are Gap – they are the Perfect Fit (LOVE THEM!) and are totally perfect for the mom belly 🙂
    xo – kb

  14. Can’t get the link for the Aprons to work. They are so cute!
    As for Christmas, this year we had it out before thanksgiving, so it was cleaned up yesterday. But we also have a few January birthdays in our house, so we move on to celebrating them right away.

  15. I’ll have to tell Jer about the Burning of the Greens – I think he probably will jump with joy at a reason to have a bonfire 🙂 Thanks for sharing…and making me feel normal!
    xo – kb

  17. We spread out our Christmas too. Our next family gathering/gift exchange is Thursday. Nothing wrong with extra Christmas celebrating (or Christmas posting)!

  19. I love both of the aprons they are adorable!!! I’m going to buy some. But I wanted you to know that you inspired my husband to create next year’s tree out of the hollow yarn ball ornaments you used for your tree!! I know it’s crazy! He’s taken the plan for the hanging ornament tree and using the yarn balls instead of glass ones(totally kid friendly). We have three little ones with a fourth due in April. So we need all the kid friendliness I guess. Glad that you all had a Merry Christmas and I hope the rest of your Christmas. Continues to be merry lol. Btw I love you decor for the holiday. It’s very warm and inviting.

  20. I love your table Katie, but please iron your tablecloth next time! Those creases are punching me in the face…

  21. I have yet to celebrate Christmas with ALL the relatives on my dad’s side of the family which occurs New Year’s day so your continued Christmas celebrations are just fine by me!

  22. Oh it’s Christmas around my house till at least New Years. Heck, we still have to visit the in-laws for a Christmas exchange this coming weekend 😉

    And not only do I love that pretty Christmas apron, I love the bowl of baubles you paired it with … so pretty!

  23. Hi Katie,

    Long time reader–first time poster. I love your crafty ideas and home improvement suggestions. I have PDFed so many to use in the future!! May I please offer one small suggestion without (hopefully) sounding too preachy? Please stop shopping at Wal-Mart. Their super low prices actually end up biting us in the butt in state and local taxes (our politicians pay them tax dollars to build in certain areas)–and their awful labor violations are not worth their prices. This documentary is an eye opener on how their stuff is so “cheap” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hftb_DVuelo. I hope if you have a free hour you check it out–it’s really quite interesting. And I’m no hippie either. Conservative DC girl in pearls–I just want to know where my pearls come from =) Thanks again for such a cute blog!

  24. I love the aprons and table-setting but I have to know how you did your hair!!! I’ve been on a braid kick lately and need to know if that’s a waterfall or a side braid wrap around… Merry Christmas!

  25. Your table setting is beautiful. How did will like it? Does he get into that sort of thing? Surprising enough my boys love candle lit dinners. We do one every christmas Eve.

  28. I love the Santa mugs. I saw them in the Pottery Barn catalog and loved them so much I was almost tempted to buy them. I hope they still have them at Walmart!

    We spread Christmas out as well. We always spend the holiday out of town so we only exchange something small. Then usually around New Years Eve or day, we have “House Christmas”. We cook a festive breakfast, drink something yummy like Bailey’s and coffee and then open our gifts to each other. It will probably change when we have kids but I hope to keep the tradition alive in some way! And this year, we will be out of town on New Years as well so we’re really spreading out Christmas… all the way to the weekend after New Years! 🙂

  30. Sorry Tina – I’m laughing really hard at “a free hour”…funny 🙂
    Anyhoo…yeah, it’s hard to know where to shop these days isn’t it?
    xo – kb

  31. I think it’s the waterfall…the one where you are adding and taking away…whatever that is called. And it’s higher on my head than a lot of them I’ve seen on Pinterest…more like a headband. You know me…I love me a good headband 🙂
    xo – kb

  34. Katie-

    Will you do a post sometime with all your different hair styles and how tos.. I love your hair in so many different posts!!

  37. Hi Katie! I LOVE your blog! The aprons are so cute. The one with the ruffles – does it wrinkle alot? I saw that it’s made out of linen…
    Thanks and have a great time celebrating Christmas (and posting) for as long as you want!

  38. Christmas this year (like last year) involved christmas eve at my mom’s with my three sisters families (6 kids) and then a overnight drive to my husbands parents (8 hour drive) to open presents christmas morning. We arrived at 4am and had a 2 hour nap (not enough) then commenced the festivities. I kept stealing naps, but my hubby powered through, and we drove home the following night. It’s great to see everyone we love on such a joyous occasion, so its worth the 16 hours of driving.

    Merry Christmas Katie, I found your blog this summer and really enjoy reading about your bacon, home, son, and other exploits.
    Rosalie

  39. What the heck are you eating to make your hair grow so fast? It is like some
    kind of crazy weed!! 🙂 vitamins perhaps?

  41. haha…nope. No vitamins…the shame…just have always had fast growing hair. Its a good thing except when it comes to my legs and armpits 🙂
    xo – kb

  42. Well, I threw them on for these photos immediately after opening the package…so they are definitely not wrinkle free material…but I would dare say that mine are especially wrinkled because of that fact and a quick iron would probably go a long way 🙂
    xo – kb

  43. I think you are adorable! You will be happy you’ve documented everything so well! I used to be so much the same…and then I ran out of steam! Hopefully, you’ll keep that lovely energy up!

  44. Aww thanks Brenda. It does take some steam, huh?! Sometimes I wonder if there is enough juice in the world to keep this pace…I don’t know how those blogger-mom-of-four do it 🙂
    xo – kb

  45. Love the aprons Katie! Very cute! I may need to get me one of those even though I don’t cook! 🙂

    Oh, and where did you get your disco ball ornaments (the ones in the bowl)? I love ’em!

    Merry Christmas to you and your family!

  50. How cute are you in your braid and those aprons?! I love them! I think my Mama might need one for Valentine’s Day! 🙂

  51. Katie, just had to say – I totally reuse my old candy canes, too. I bought some last year, and kept them for this year… and am planning to pack them away with the Christmas decor to use again next year. And if anyone wants to eat one, I do not plan on telling them that they are 3 years old because I think candy canes never expire 🙂 haha

    Also, we had waffles for breakfast this Christmas, too, and they were yummy! Waffles, scrambled eggs, and a fruit salad. Our table was not nearly as cute as yours though. I am now convinced that I need some Santa mugs.

    And, I took a picture of myself in my cute apron for my blog:
    http://trytoenjoy.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/christmas-cookie-decorating-time/

    Merry Christmas! Don’t know how you do it, but thanks for keeping up with all the posting – I love reading it all!

  52. I heart everything about the table! Great job and SO festive…just the way a table should look at Christmas 🙂

    I’m swooing over an apron like yours…those are so cute!

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