January 3rd, 2011

My Christmas at Home

A very happy New Year to all of you!  I hope that the holidays were healthy and enjoyable.  I’m back from a much-needed rest in St. Barts – perhaps you’ve been following my Tweets.  Let me begin this New Year by sharing a bit of my Christmas with you.  As you may have heard, I am busy writing the text for a new book on entertaining and with television on holiday hiatus, I finally had the time to devote to this project.  I took a break, on Christmas day, when Alexis and Kevin arrived and we proceeded to create a lovely lunch.  The table was set with Limoges, a gift from a friend.  With that and with some from my collection, the table was gorgeous and lunch was yummy, too!

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1 On Christmas morning, the sunrise was simply magical! However, they do say that 'pink sky in the morning, sailors take warning' and there was a blizzard the next day.

2 It was as if pink cotton candy was stretched across the sky.

3 It seemed as though the entire farm was washed in pink.

4 I am very impressed with the fine 'tailoring' of the burlap this year. It's neater than ever!

5 Princess Peony joined me for this early Christmas stroll.

6 This Christmas tree with its giant ornaments really looked good on the terrace.

7 With every passing minute, the sky became less pink.

8 I watched it gradually turn to blue.

9 Turning towards the west, I spied the waning full moon.

10 And there was Vivaldi, too!

11 Christmas was a small and intimate celebration this year.

12 Each and every package was wrapped exquisitely.

13 This is a crafter's dream! - A pail filled with Martha Stewart craft supplies from Michaels. http://www.michaels.com/

14 Kevin is always generous with double-faced satin ribbons.

15 With the addition of this lovely Limoges gift, setting an elegant table was so easy.

16 The birch bark-wrapped candles were a lovely addition.

17 This amazing fish platter was part of the Limoges gift. The bottom is stamped B & C Limoges France L. Bernardaud.

18 These floral-edged soup bowls were already a part of my collection. They are stamped Venice T&V Limoges France Ovington Bros NYC.

19 I have a large collection of antique hand-embroidered linens, which are so much fun to use. My housekeeper, Laura Acuna, does an amazing job of laundering and ironing them.

20 This is one of the dinner plates that Jim gave me. Each plate in the set is decorated with a different fish. He also gave ma a stack of kidney-shaped plates, as well.

21 Kevin presented me with these amazing Paris porcelain compote dishes from 19th-century. He found them at David Stypmann Antiques in New York City.

22 Their detail is fantastic from their gilded edges to their gilded feet.

23 And I love that there's even a little leaf design inside.

24 This tiny Chinese tea set was a special gift for sipping the best quality tea.

25 Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love playing scrabble. I was very impressed with this hardwood edition of the classic word game.

26 It has embossed wood tiles, a rectangular raised letter grid, and metal tile racks. I could barely wait to get a game started.

27 I was also given a personalized thermos bottle for hot and cold beverages.

28 One course at lunch was bucatini with fabulous osetra caviar from Russ and Daughters. http://www.russanddaughters.com/

29 We also had homemade fettuccini with black truffle - it was divine! The pasta is so yellow from the deep yellow yolks of the eggs that my chickens lay.

30 How pretty a presentation!

31 And another

32 We picked the salad greens in the greenhouse - a real fresh treat!

Posted on January 3rd, 2011 in Collecting, Entertaining, Family, Food & Recipes, Friends, Gardens, Giving, Holidays, My Home, My Pets, Photo Gallery | Permalink |

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