A Tale of Three Luncheons

It's been quite a week for company at Linderhof

I had guests for lunch Wednesday (which I've already told you about),

Thursday and Friday

It's kind of a swan song for Christmas decorations

For soon they're go in their boxes --

Scott City, too

We love our tree and like to share

Because we have a real tree, it doesn't go up too early

And then we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations

Therefore, the best time for us to entertain during the Christmas season

is after Christmas

The week between Christmas and New Year's!

Luncheon One on Wednesday
Friends - Kate, Jeffrey and Shaun joined me for lunch

Luncheon Two on Thursday
Maxine Zimmerman, her daughter and her grade school great-granddaughters had luncheon at Linderhof

Luncheon Three on Friday - dear Nevada friends joined me for luncheon

 \

I used the same lace tablecloth for all three luncheons,

white damask napkins in silver rings

And Jim's grandmother's cutlery

Wednesday, the centerpiece was at the end of the table

Because there was just four

A red poinsettia, candles and the Santa and toys salt and pepper

Thursday and Friday

the centerpiece was in the middle of the table

White mums and Christmas greens in a Waterford bowl

The Christmas dishes were used for all three luncheons,

The Royal Dolton Tartan that we bought on a trip to England from the Royal Dolton factory

The luncheons were all three courses -

Salads, entree and dessert

And mostly each day was different

Salads:

Wednesday, we had a Maple Roasted Carrot Salad

Thursday, a strawberry salad with poppyseed dressing

Friday, my favorite tossed salad with an oil and vinegar dressing

The entrees:

Wednesday - Ina Garten's Chicken With 40 Cloves of Garlic and white and wild rice

Thursday - Chicken Spaghetti and Garlic Cheese Biscuits

Friday - Ina Garten's Rotini with spinach and tomatoes in a creamy lemon sauce

 Desserts

I decided that I was tired of cinnamon and nutmeg flavors

and other flavors associated with Christmas, so I chose very

non-Christmasy desserts

Wednesday - Ina Garten's French Apple Tart

 One of my favorite desserts of Ina's

Very refreshing and not a cinnamon or nutmeg anywhere -

just pure apple flavor with a crisp crust

It was a fitting ending to Wednesday's luncheon

which was "all Ina"

Thursday - Fairy cupcakes with sugared cranberries and rosemary

 Since some of my guests were young, I decided to do a cupcake

for dessert for every kid loves cupcakes

But I "kicked them up a notch" by adding the sugared fruit and herb

Friday - Ina Garten's Apple Tart -- AGAIN!

I had some apples left and the tart is so good . . . my guests thought so too!

Entertaining during the Christmas season -

The tree and the dining room table

The table and the tree!

Our entertaining is done for the year,

We'll preparing for New Year's Eve

Which will be a quiet night for us

As it usually is

We're not NYE party people

preparing to have our own quiet celebration at home

Perhaps, because, of all the years that we worked and worked hard

at our wine and spirit shop on New Year's Eve

Thus, we enjoy just the two of us to ring in the New Year!