I hope that everyone, wherever you are in the world, had a peaceful and happy Christmas Day! Although we were a little sad that our younger daughter, Mlle Chic Fille, couldn’t be with us to join in the festivities this year, we had a wonderful celebration with our elder daughter, La Chic Maman, her husband and their little daughter La Petite, along with some very good friends.
Since it tends to be quite hot here at Christmas, we have taken to having our main meal on Christmas Eve so that we can enjoy the traditional turkey, ham and all the trimmings al fresco under a pleasant night sky. This year was no exception – we had a beautiful clear evening with a cooling breeze and Monsieur Le Chic managed via his Sonos system to tune in to Berlin Radio where we listened to Christmas records and songs as we ate under the stars (well, under a vine & ivy clad pergola next to an English climbing rose).
With all the preparations I had not given much thought to laying the table so an hour or so before our first guests were due to arrive I suddenly realised the table was bare! I quickly added a white tablecloth, used the beautiful floral arrangement sent by my mother-in-law as the table centrepiece and then added some finishing touches. Whilst hunting for my deep red Christmas charger plates, which I eventually located at the back of my dresser, I found some pretty sparkling glitter balls and filled an old glass jar with them. Next I placed a pretty white lantern on the table and a silver candle holder and finally used the charming crystal napkin holders I had bought for La Chic Maman’s wedding in July to wrap up the serviettes. Voila…table sorted!
Finally we started the evening as we always do for special occasions with a glass of champagne.. a welcome chance to relax and unwind after a very hectic and busy time!
Champagne at Christmas!
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year too and looking forward to your company again in 2015!
Cheers, Santé, Prost!
Copyright © 2014 Rosemary Thomas Le Chic En Rose. All rights reserved
Le Chic En Rose 
Looks like a wonderful Christmas. The table looked lovely. Enjoy the rest of the holiday season. (Suzanne)
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Thank you Suzanne we had a lovely time and have been enjoying the holiday season with family and friends. Wishing you a wonderful rest of the holiday season! 🙂
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It all looks beautiful, Rosemay. It always surprises me what I can find lurking in the back of the cabinet, but no nice red chargers I’m afraid 🙂 I always have loads of baubles left over too, but ours is only a small table. Very best wishes for 2015!
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Thanks Jo 🙂 Yes I did find an awful lot of things in the back of my dresser cabinet – baubles, candles, tealights and fortunately my beautiful red charger plates (I had been hunting high and low for them!). Hope you had a good Christmas and very best wishes for 2015 too! 🙂
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It’s so interesting to see you write about Christmas in a climate so different than the one we have! While you’re outside, cooling off, we’re inside, in front of a cozy fire! Hope you had a great day!
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Thanks Kerry – it took me quite a while to get used to the reverse seasons when we first moved here from England and even now it doesn’t quite feel Christmassy enough when it’s hot! We’ve had quite a mild summer by our standards too so it’s not as warm as usual at this time of year. I’ve started up our own traditions and it works really well to have our main meal on Christmas Eve evening – it’s cool enough by then to eat hot food! A warm cosy fire sounds lovely and hope you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas too! 🙂
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What a beautiful table ! Well done ! Merry xmas 🙂 we met some people from Australia here in Lapland, and they were saying that they couldn’t bear eating a turkey in these temperatures 😉
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Thanks Gin! I didn’t have much time left to organise the table as I had been busy cooking all day but am happy it turned out well! I can understand why the Australians you met said they couldn’t bear eating turkey in the heat! Often people eat seafood instead (which we did at friends on Christmas Day itself). However we like the traditional Christmas meal and I find as long as you eat it on Christmas Eve in the evening then the temperature will have cooled down and it will be very pleasant (in fact it’s been quite mild and not too hot this summer so far). Hope you’ve had a wonderful time in Lapland and look forward to reading all about it! Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you too! 🙂
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What better way to start the evening with a chilled glass of Veuve Clicquot Rosemary (it’s my absolute favourite!!). Your table looks beautiful – very festive and I must admit, a Christmas Eve feast outside sounds wonderful. All the best for 2015 – looking forward to reading more about your adventures!
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Thanks Joy 🙂 A chilled glass of Veuve Cliquot is wonderful!! We have it on special occasions like Christmas and it’s lovely when I’ve been on the go all day preparing the Christmas meal and I feel I can finally relax! Although I do miss cold Christmases, I am getting very used to our new traditions here and our Christmas Eve meal outside has become an annual event (sometimes we have to eat inside if it is cool and windy but this year the weather was just right)! Hope you had a great Christmas too! Very best wishes as well for 2015 and I look forward to reading about more of your travels too! 🙂
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Looks like a really nice Christmas, Rosemary. I love the table decorations. It looks very fancy, despite that you did not have so much time to do it. I also hope that your youngest daughter had a good Christmas despite that she was not with you.
Now, that Christmas is over, I wish you a Happy new year, and all the best wishes for 2015. 🙂
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Thanks so much Hanne 🙂 Am glad you like the decorations too – I always seem to collect them and they are so useful when you need to put together a table setting in a hurry! Our younger daughter spent Christmas with my dad and family up in the north of England – she found it very different from here! It was lovely for my family to see her – I know she’s homesick for Australia even though her life is going well in London it will take her time to adjust and we will be going over at the end of March (am very excited!). Thank you for the good wishes and also wishing you a very Happy New Year and a wonderful 2015! Am looking forward to reading more of your great blog posts too and thanks so much for your support of mine! 🙂
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Yes, I can understand. It can be very hard to celebrate Christmas from home. It was not easy for me this year either, despite that I was not home for many years. But I am sure that your daughter is looking as much forward to you guys coming to London in March, as you do. 🙂
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Thanks Hanne for your kind comments 🙂 Yes she’s really looking forward to our visit as are we! It’s never easy being far from your family at Christmas. Wishing you all the very best for 2015! 🙂
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Wow, the table looks fantastic!! You did a super job 🙂 Looks like a very merry Christmas!
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Thanks Lucy am very glad you like it I do love my decorations! 🙂 We had a very merry Christmas here in Perth and hope you did too (was interested to see that you come from Romania we have a friend who now lives here in Perth and who comes from Cluj which I believe is in Transylvania)?! Thanks very much for stopping by and visiting – hope to see you again soon and I’ll be following your blog posts too! Very best wishes Rosemary! 🙂
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My pleasure. Your decorations are lovely! Yes, Cluj is in Romania 🙂 Is a gorgeous city. My Christmas was quiet and peaceful, spent with my new adopted pup, and this made it all much nicer 🙂 Best wishes to you as well! x
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Thanks Lucy 🙂 How lovely that you have a new pup – pets are such great company! We have a 4 year old schnoodle (schnauzer/poodle cross) who adopted us and a 1 year cat (who was a rescue cat and came via the Cat Haven here in Perth). I am so glad we have them especially now our daughter has moved to the other side of the world for now! Puppies can be quite mischievous I lost a very nice pair of shoes and several pairs of sunglasses which got chewed up when he was small! Sounds like you had a very nice Christmas and very best wishes for the New Year! 🙂
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Lisa is a 12 year old husky-black lab mix. She’s a fantastic dog. We’ve adopted her after the move, and I couldn’t ask for a better dog. Everyday I’m amazed by what she does. The looked after me for a whole week, every night, when I was down with the flu, doesn’t touch anything on the floor, which doesn’t belong to her, she’s friendly, and nice, and well behaved. She fits perfectly into my life. My previous dog used to chew everything as a pup, so I know what you mean. In the end, it’s all worth it though. They might destroy your shoes, but never your heart. Such a wonderful company! x
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Lisa sounds a beautiful dog – animals are so intuitive when you are ill they just seem to know and try and look after you! How wonderful that she has come into your life just after your move – she sounds a lovely companion 🙂 Winston our schnoodle is so adorable that we forgive him for his little misdemeanors and now he’s a bit older he doesn’t chew things as much except his bones which is good! 🙂
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She’s a wonderful dog indeed. I’m really happy to have her, especially during a time of so much change. Winston sounds like an adorable pup! 🙂
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He’s very loving and affectionate 🙂 We’re lucky to have him as I wouldn’t have got a dog otherwise but he had nowhere else to go and so I agreed we could take him in and now he’s become a wonderful and faithful companion 🙂
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Your table looks lovely, I didn’t post a photo of mine because someone spilt their drink on it ALMOST IMMEDIATELY but I am amused by the fact that your Christmas charger plates are almost identical to mine!
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Thanks Gill though am sorry the drink got spilt straight away – I was lucky I got my photos in early there were a couple of red wine stains that I had to get out later! I love my charger plates great minds obviously think alike! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and very best wishes for 2015! Thanks for visiting here again and I’ll be looking forward to reading more of your posts in the coming year! 🙂
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What a lovely decorative table it would surely set the atmosphere for Christmas. I rather like your idea of having the main meal on the 24th, good idea, I think I might do that in 2015. I never really feel Christmassy over here, far too hot for a “pomme” even though I have been away from UK since 1961 the traditions of my childhood still linger.
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Thanks Pauline am glad you like it 🙂 Yes we switched to doing the main meal on Christmas Eve a few years back (after a particularly hot Christmas slaving away at the stove). It just seemed to make more sense to have a celebration in the evening (which is what some European countries do). It feels more Christmassy somehow at night too. I quite agree it never quite feels like Christmas when it’s hot and I’ve been here for 24 years now so can well understand how you would feel too! We still open our presents on Christmas morning though! Christmas in July has become very popular here in WA many restaurants organise proper Christmas meals at that time of the year when the weather is cold! Hope you had a merry Christmas and very best wishes for 2015!
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We travel to Brisbane to spend Christmas with the grandkids and never have a proper meal just salad between present opening. The Christmas in July is strongly promoted over here too.
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How lovely that you spend Christmas with your grandkids Pauline 🙂 I can quite understand why you have salad! Christmas in July is a good idea it feels much more Christmassy weather then!
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That is a beautiful table setting, Rosemay! Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos. 🙂
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Thank you Amy 🙂 Am so glad you like it and am happy to share my photos. Hope you had a very happy Christmas too – I have loved looking at all the Christmas decorations on people’s blogs! Having been brought up in the northern hemisphere I still think it should be cold at Christmas though we are fortunate to be able to sit outside for our meal! 🙂
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