Monday Mashup: Decorating, Drinks and Dinner Circle

Saturday night was our turn to host the Dinner Circle. I chose December as our month purposely because Christmas decorations already make the house festive. Table centerpieces are a pretty way to add Christmas cheer. 

This one decorates the coffee table in our family room and takes minimal effort to create. 

To create this centerpiece:
1 pillar candle in the color of your choice
1 candle wreath which can be found at your local craft store, Target or floral shop
4 tree shaped candles
1 decorative charger > I got mine at Michaels for $3

Set the candle wreath in the center of your charger, place the pillar candle in the center of the wreath. Add tree candles around the edges and place on your table. 
As this was a dinner party the dining room needed to be in full glory for the evening and was set accordingly.

A Christmas tablecloth sets the stage for the center of the room. We decorate the chandelier with Christmas ball ornaments hung with ribbon. Our dining room color scheme is deep red, gold and white year round so I bought red metallic chargers which we use for our special dinners even beyond the holiday season. 
Set each place according to the menu, in the order it will be served when eating family style. If you are preparing the plates individually, set only the charger at the table.
Caesar salad will be the first course so place the dinner plate on the charger with the salad plate on top of the dinner plate. Clear plates from the right sides of guests at the end of the course.
Place your silverware in a similar manner with the salad fork to the far left, then the dinner fork right of the salad fork, left of the plate and the knife on the right of the plate. Holiday napkins complete the place setting. 
We planned on serving honey mead for the gentlemen and Smirnoff Pomegranate Martini for the ladies. 

John, Chris and Keith

Image from Moippai.com

Here are the gentlemen with their mead. Keith and John had not tried mead before. They were glad for the opportunity to try a new alcoholic beverage. 

Image from www.liquorstore.com

I don't own martini glasses but wine glasses work just fine in their place. To enhance the party spirits I added colored sugar to the rims of the glasses. 

We used a slice of lemon to wet the edges of the glasses and then dipped them in a plate of pink and silver sugar crystals. The silver looks white in the photos. 
Here is Hope enjoying her martini. She had to work until 8pm so the cocktails were a welcome sight after a long day. 

Hope gives the martini a "thumbs up"

Stacy was kind enough to snap photos for me while I cooked dinner. I paused to take one of she and Hope together. 

I love the outfit Stacy chose to wear. She had a lace vest over a sleeveless black top, Rock Revival jeans and animal print shoes. 

Chris and Keith with the Bitty dog looking hopefully for a lap to lay on

John

               
I served calamari with marinara and parmesan garlic dip with pretzel chips for an appetizer. 

For dinner we had Caesar Salad, then Shrimp Scampi over linguine with bread. Stacy provided the salad and Hope brought the bread. 
We all enjoyed it quite much! 

The Dinner Circle

For dessert I served Eggnog Spice Cheesecake bonbons from eConfections. Everyone went crazy for them! They were absolutely DELICIOUS!

Follow @econfections for the lasted offerings if you are in the Richmond area. Erika is a magician with chocolate.
Sunday I finished my Christmas shopping and also managed to get it all wrapped.
Coming up this week:
Rockin the Colors of Christmas