It was a fun evening as they shared with us how all your party planning needs can be taken care of all in one place – Albertsons!

The evening started out in the wine section.  Since I am not a wine drinker I didn’t really pay a whole lot of attention to the wine talk but I did enjoy tasting several of the “mocktails” they served us. 

From there we moved into the meat department and then into the floral department.

They showed some great quick and easy ways to put together a floral arrangement for your holiday table. 

The first one used a clear dish, fresh cranberries and a candle.

One great tip I learned was you can turn a tea light candle into a floating candle just by removing it from the little metal case it comes in!

The second arrangement idea they shared uses a margarita glass, chocolate kisses and a candle.  How easy is that!
 

The next station was appetizers.  We tasted some yummy things and then they showed us how to make pumpkin hummus.  I am not a fan of pumpkin but this hummus was yummy and it has half the calories of regular hummus!

Pumpkin Hummus

1 15 oz. can of pumpkin

2 Tbsp tahini

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Combine ingredients until smooth and creamy.  If hummus is too thick, you can add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until desired consistency.

Spoon into serving bowl, and sprinkle with desired topping like cinnamon, red pepper or more parsley.

Next they share some quick and easy dinner ideas to make using their rotisserie chicken – chicken noodle soup, BBQ chicken pizza, and chicken lettuce wraps – yum!!

I had to leave early to go hear the high school choir sing at the Grotto so I missed the last few stations.  We were each given a fun goodie bag which included a gift card and all the things neede to make our own cranberry/candle arrangement.  Thanks Albertsons for a fun evening.

Next time you have a party to plan be sure and visit Albertsons!

Several years ago Meier & Frank became Macy’s and the Georgian Room and Breakfast with Santa was no more.  A sad day.  Since our kids had gotten too old for this event any way I decided that it was time to reinvent Breakfast with Santa!

So we decided to host our own Breakfast with Santa.  We invited 3 of our neighbor families, two of which had young children.  We usually hold it the Saturday before Christmas so that my college kids are home and can join us.  Everyone is invited to attend in their pajamas!

The menu is the same as we enjoyed in the Georgian Room – pancakes, little sausages, fruit, juice and hot chocolate.  This year we are throwing an egg dish in for the adults!

Jim is always in charge of cooking the pancakes.  Yummy, fluffy, sour cream pancakes.

The kids line up for them!
 

There is plenty of hot chocolate and whip cream – the rule is you can have as much whip cream as you want, no limits!

This year we will be having a hot chocolate bar with lots of fun toppings and mix ins!

After breakfast all of the kids work together to create gingerbread house masterpieces.

Usually, just as they ae finishing up their decorating there’s a knock at the door.  Guess who it is? Santa of course!
 

Santa brings a gift for each of the kids – big and small and they all get a turn on his lap!

Last year we were in the middle of Arctic Blast 2008 and Santa had to make his way through the snow, good thing he has those reindeer to help him!!

Our Breakfast with Santa usually lasts most of the morning as we enjoy lingering, spending time together and just hanging out.  It is our Christmas gift to our neighbors and we get as much enjoyment out of it as they do!

Some of the neighborhood girls.

Merry Christmas!

I’ve got the menu pretty well down for that event.  You can check it out here.  Because I can do that breakfast almost on auto pilot it gives me time to think about my table decor.

I always serve the breakfast buffet style so I like to do something to decorate the table or counter from which I serve the food.  Usually I serve off my large kitchen island but this year I decided to do it from the kitchen table.

I pushed the table up against the wall to give people a little more room to move around the table.

I love magazines and have quite a collection at my house.  My favorite thing to do is tear pictures of pretty things out of them and file them away.  I use the photos for ideas or inspiration. In this year’s December issue of Better Homes & Gardens I found a photo that inspired my table decor for my holiday breakfast.

They had used an old wooden sled on the table with a grouping of glass cloches with ornaments underneath.  When I saw the photo I remembered that up in my attic I had an old vintage wooden sled I had picked up several years ago at an antique store.  It was one of those purchases that my husband had said “What are you going to do with that?”  Actually he says that quite often.  My reply of course was “I don’t know, but I’ll find something!”  I knew I loved it and sometime I would need it!

So my nice, kind husband crawled up into the attic to retrieve the sled for me.

Very rarely do I ever purchase something specifically for a table decoration, except for fresh flowers but a lot of times those just come out of my garden.

I love the challenge of looking around my house to see what I have and what I can re purpose as table decor!

For this decor I used a glass cloche that I have.  I placed it on top of a small green cake stand I had previously purchased at Home Goods and filled it with some ornaments I hadn’t used on my tree.  A few of them I actually removed from the tree to use!  The other little cake stand I also had.  My little addiction to cake stands comes in handy sometimes!

 If you don’t have any glass cloches you can also use glass vases and just turn them upside down!

 
 
I added a few pieces of artificial greens around the base of the cake plates or if you have cut down a fresh tree use a few of the branches you cut off to get it into the tree stand.

I then just scattered a few more ornaments in the greens.  I think it looks great and I love the height that the sled gave the centerpiece!

Next up was the dining room table where we would be eating.  Again I looked around the house to see what I could use – re purpose!

I decided my little collection of glittery vintage santas would look great as part of the centerpiece.

I used a piece of green chiffon fabric as the base for the centerpiece.  I have a collection of different colors of chiffon squares to use as an anchor for centerpieces.

Here’s an example from my Little Princess Tea Party.

Just purchase a yard of fabric and then serge the edges or do a small folded hem.  I have even been known to leave the edges raw and tuck them under.

 
 
I grabbed another one of those cake stands I am so fond of and a few more ornaments off the tree (my tree has lots of ornaments so these weren’t missed!), another sprig of greens and a few more candles that usually sit in my kitchen windowsill.

I positioned the santas so they were facing different ways so that no matter what side of the table you were on you had a nice view of Santa!

What fun things have you found around your house to use as table decorations?