♪♪ Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas ♪♪

We won't be having dinner here Christmas, so just a little holiday table. Tonight is very traditional, red and green.

The dishes, from a long time ago, made in France, called Noel, from The House of Salem, whatever!  I have told the story of how my aunt who was in her early 50's died in Nov. and I invited her children, 6 of them, and my uncle to join us for Christmas.  I didn't have enough matching dishes for the joined families, so I went to 4 different places spanning many, many miles to get enough.  So I ended up with service for 28!

  Very reasonable, very pretty in a traditional way, and very well used over the years. 

 

I used a red and green plaid table cloth, I love the edge!  From the Christmas Tree Shop. The napkins are from there too, as are the bell place card holders, green BEE glasses and red flatware.

 

Green glass chargers by Gorham that I got at Lenox last year.

 

The centerpiece a simple basket filled with fresh greens form the yard and some baby's breath.

 

The candle holder matches the dishes.

 

Both sets of salt and peppers are by Spode, and both were gifts.  The trees this year from my friend Judy, and the Spode pattern from my niece, many years ago.

 

The larger glasses I got a long time ago on Cmas Eve after Mass  in the supermarket, for 50 cents!  They were marked down, and I ran in for milk, and of course had to buy them. 

Oh Tablescaper, I have 48 of them!  :) But that was before I cured myself of buying so many of everything !

A green glass leaf serves as the butter plate.

 

A shiny red cracker for everyone.

Do you use crackers on your table for Christmas?  We never did growing up, but the little gkids look forward to them now.

For an appetizer I made baked clams.  I am making them to bring for Cmas, so instead of shells, I baked them in a mini cup cake pan.

Much easier for people to pick up and eat!

Directions:

I use a very large fry pan to do this.

Place at least 1/4 C of Olive Oil in the skillet.

Brown 1 teas of granulated garlic, or fresh in the oil. Be careful, it browns quickly!

Add 3 C of flavored bread crumbs and let them brown, stirring often.

Drain half the juice from a 51 oz can of chopped clams ( we dig them in summer right here, but in winter, it is the can!) and reserve.  I like the clams smaller, so I use a blender stick to chop them more.

Add the minced clams and the juice you chopped them in to the crumb mixture.  Remove from heat.

Add 1 teas chopped parsley, and the juice of a half lemon.

A few grinds of pepper.

Add a half cup or so of freshly grated locatelli cheese

Stir in a handful of shredded mozzarella cheese. You can add more of the reserved clam juice if you like them wetter.

Spray the mini pan and fill with the mixture.  You can add bacon crumbles to the top if you like. I added a dab more of cheese to the top.

Bake till brown and bubbley.  Serve with sliced lemon.

You can also make them in natural shells or the foil ones.

I am joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday and Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday.

May you have the Merriest Christmas, many blessings to you all!  And as always, I appreciate your visit!

 

See you next week!