For those who know me and | or follow along regularly, you know I was born in Uruguay.  If you are new here or just getting to know me, well, I was born in Uruguay. 🙂  Although I didn’t have the good fortune to live there very long the culture and customs were ingrained in my family.  My mother was born there and my father grew up there from the age of two, when my Paternal grandparents migrated to Uruguay from Spain.  One of our many customs is to eat Gnocchi on the 29th of every month.

It’s believed the custom started because it was the end of the month when families would run out of money and flour and potatoes were a cheap meal.  For those who are not familiar with Gnocchi, it’s a dumpling type of pasta made from flour, potatoes and eggs.  Although now-a-days there are other types of gnocchi like ricotta, pumpkin, and sweet potato to name a few, but the traditional gnocchi is potato based.

Anyway, last month the 29th landed on a Sunday so we had a festive, family gnocchi dinner.  My cousin who is also very Uruguayan joined us as well as did my son’s girlfriend.  Since neither of my children were afforded the opportunity to know my parents, I try my best to inject some of my childhood family traditions into our own family.  I hope they will bring some of it along to their own families some day and by the grace of God I will be there to share it with them as well.

Of course I took the opportunity to set a festive table.  I had just turned the corner from Thanksgiving into decking the halls for Christmas so I injected a very slight holiday vibe.  We got our Christmas tree that same weekend so I had clippings from the tree plus the white roses and fillers were left over from Thanksgiving.

I set the table in the kitchen and created simple little individual arrangements for everyones’ place settings, which I shared the idea here{great spring table setting idea}, using greenery clippings, white roses and green berries.  It was festive, holiday-ee, but did not scream Christmas just yet.

Do these look familiar?  Yup, they are the same little arrangements I used on my {a Christmas mantel}.  I decorated the mantel a couple of days after we had this dinner so I simply moved all the vases to the mantel.  

I also made an arrangement in one of my cast iron urns as a centerpiece focal point, which was flanked by the other two urns decked with festive candles.  

I had not intended to make this tablescape for the blog per se, but when I was done setting it up I decided to take a few pictures because it was too pretty to pass up.  Everything I used for the table are everyday wares, dishes, glasses and linens, etc.   

Since my pasta bowls are green I used my reversible green place mats and napkins.  They both have the same patterns on both sides but if I use them together like on this table I always use the alternate pattern on each because I don’t like things to be too matchy matchy.  On an uber formal table I would maybe use matching sets but these linens are pretty casual.  You can see how I used them here{stylish St. Patrick’s tablescape}, utilizing the opposite patterns.

This kicked off our Christmas season after the Thanksgiving long weekend.  And this also started my white flower Christmas decor.  I didn’t realize it at the time but I keep using white flowers this Christmas season.  I love how they offset against the Christmas greenery.

This Christmas is simpler and more natural in my decor.  It’s that kind of year.  What is your Christmas style this year?  Or in general for that matter? 

“Tradition is not to preserve the ashes, but to pass on the flame.”

~Gustav Mahler~

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