I’ve gone a bit gaga for Christmas this year and it all started with a project that Teri from The Lovely Drawer conjured up back in September. Along with eleven other bloggers we have all come together to style twelve different Christmas tables with lots of lovely West Elm goodies. You can follow all twelve days on Teri’s blog and and West Elm’s Front + Main blog.
As a child the thing I looked forward to most about the festive season were the mornings; I would jump out of bed every morning, so excited to see what picture was behind the door of my advent calendar and don’t even get me started on the excitement levels of finding and opening our stockings on Christmas morning itself.
Therefore, I had to choose an advent breakfast table with hot cinnamon rolls and a special homemade advent calendar present. Being a cold, dark December morning there are plenty of homemade candles and twinkly lights and a cosy blanket so everyone can stay in their PJ’s all morning.
Cosy texture throw from West Elm
I have never been a big fan of the traditional red, green and gold so I always opt for soft pinks, white and lots of natural green. To make it feel more festive you just need a good dose of Christmas lights and candles, which also really help to make the dark mornings at this time of year feel more cosy.
My homemade advent calendar is simply two pieces of wallpaper (or you could use brown wrapping paper stamped with Christmas images) sewn together with a chocolate coin or two popped inside. You could even put a little note inside with a different Christmas related activity to be revealed each day. Such a lovely thing to find every morning.
Organic shaped dinnerware from West Elm
I made delicious Christmas scented cinnamon candles in small vintage cake tins (or patty pans), which work perfectly with the fresh cinnamon rolls. You can find the recipe for the rolls in this post and the tutorial to make the candles here.
I really can not explain to you how excited I used to get about my advent calendar, although we had a very strict ‘no chocolate’ rule in our family; it was all about finding the most beautiful calendar with the most beautiful illustrations. I think if there had been an advent present for me every morning on our breakfast table I would have internally combusted with excitement!
This Christmas we are spending the day in London with my family. We take the dogs for a walk in the morning and then have drinks with friends. We then walk through the quiet streets of London to a special restaurant for lunch – no cooking or washing up for us! Then home for lots of Christmas telly and more drinking and eating. I can not wait.
Pop over to Teri’s blog to see day 1, Heather’s blog to see day 2, Ruth’s blog to see day 3 and Fran’s blog to see day 4 – all completely different Christmas tables and different traditions, which makes it such a lovely project. Thank you so much to Teri for bringing us all together and the folks at West Elm for the perfect Christmas tableware (although I snuck a blanket in there as we all know you can never have enough blankets, especially when they are so soft and pink). Don’t forget to follow the remaining seven days on the Front + Main blog – there are some amazing tables coming up so you’d be a fool to miss it!
Katy x
I really do think this is beautiful. It feels calm, relaxed and intimate. Your advent calendar is gorgeous – I can imagine them all hanging from that lovely branch you’ve used in your styling the seasons post. Oh, and ta for the pointer to your candle post – candle making was on my to-do list today and thanks to you I didn’t need to search out a tutorial. x