Christmas Breakfast Buffet

It's December 14th.  Are my cards mailed out yet?  No.  Gifts all bought? No. Menu planned for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day?  Haven't a clue.  Today I am falling back on my favorite words to live by...I will think about that tomorrow!  I tend to do the things I enjoy first at the holidays, decorating and a little entertaining.  I hosted a nice  lunch yesterday for some friends.  And of course I had to find time to put a table together for this week.  I had promised to go a more traditional route and I did.

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday, hosted by Between Naps on the Porch.  This was my first attempt at a buffet table setting and it was really fun and easy.  Through the years, this was the way we most often entertained.  After all, who has room to do a sit down for 30 people?  I decided to set it up for breakfast since most of us do something special Christmas morning.

I "borrowed" from my house for most of the table decor.  Since I don't usually use red, I just changed out some ornaments to red ones I wasn't using and added touches here and there.  The sun was shining in my Dining Room this morning and cast some nice shadows on the table.

I put out 2 different size plates depending on your appetite.  The smaller square plates are from Ross and I love the cardinals on them.  I repeated the cardinals in a few other places without over doing it.

I found my red chargers at Dollar Tree and found more at the Church thrift shop on half off day.  I didn't know until recently the purpose of chargers (besides looking pretty).  They are for protecting table linens.  I figured they would be a good way to add some red to the table and also protect the tablecloth from spills while guests serve themselves.

I found another set of this red flatware at Ross recently so now I have a set for 8.  I placed it on a wooden tray from Villeroy and Boch outlet.  They have great accessories and they mark them down to almost nothing. 

I used another tray from there for my little tree and candy jar.  The tree usually sits on the corner of my desk with gold, silver and brown ornaments but I added red for today.  The tree was on clearance at Michael's for $7.97 and I had a 20% off coupon.  The "Noel" is also from Michael's and is really heavy.  I had been looking for one since last year.  The jar is from Ross and I bought the mints at BJ's.  They sell a huge bag for $6.99.  It should last me until next Christmas!  It's a nice thing to add to a buffet.  Just like a restaurant!

This place mat is from Old Time Pottery and I placed it in the center of the table where I would be putting a warm breakfast casserole. 

My small centerpiece is leftover from yesterday.  I added a few red berry picks to it.  I am still waiting for my magnolia bud to bloom.  Did I ruin it by cutting it off and bringing it in the house?  I hope not!

I have had this plate stand for as long as I can remember.  It was sitting on my kitchen table but I moved it for today.  I think I found the Santa plates at Kohl's many years ago.  I use this stand for entertaining all the time.  You can stack plates on it or serve appetizers or desserts too.  It's sitting on a wreath that I dismantled and added matte red ornaments.

I have a lot of pitchers.  Several of them are white but I could not resist getting this one.  My daughter recently bought one for an apartment warming gift for her best friend.  It's from Target and I'm sure it's very popular.  The size is great (big!) and the shape is so pretty.  The best part is I got it on sale for around $10!  They were on sale last week and I got the last one on the shelf. 

Why do I have wine glasses for breakfast?  For cranberry mimosas!  I made them for the first time yesterday and they are yummy.  The ornaments inside the glasses are just for fun.  The wine glasses come from Dollar Tree.  I have them in blue too.  They are all around the blog world.

Since I don't have much red, I bought these candles this week at Ross.  I figured I could use them for Valentine's Day too. I put them on top of the candlesticks so they wouldn't get lost on the table.  It's okay to have candles at breakfast, right?  You may have noticed I try to get more than one use from anything I buy.  If I continue to put together tablescapes, I need 52 different ones  every week.  Yikes!

I planned on taking advantage of the nice light streaming in the Dining Room but my camera battery had other ideas (like sitting on the counter plugged into the charger all afternoon).  I hope I have shown you how easy it is to put together a buffet.  The white serving dishes were inexpensive pieces picked up at Ross.  The napkin rings are from Old Time Pottery.  I mixed up the napkins for interest (and because I only have 4 red!). 

Please stop by all the other tables but make sure to visit my sister's blog, Creating Wonderful Spaces.

I am also joining Tabletop Tuesday.