The GATHERING Place

There is nothing like Christmas is there? LOVE, love, love the gathering of people. 

What makes the gathering even better? 

YUMMY FOOD.

For Christmas this year our family is having the Christmas Dinner at our house. 

I have been busy pondering on the menu, the decor - shall we do a gift exchange game, shall we not. However one basic necessity had slipped my party planning checklist. PLATES!

Somehow over the last couple years plates have broken or disappeared (along with a ton of our silverware). You would think if plates have been counting down in numbers over the last two years we would have replaced them by now right? Well - in my thought process - plates need to coordinate with walls - walls need to coordinate with cupboards... cupboards need to coordinate with overall theme of the room. Our kitchen was in desperate need of, at the least, new paint. We needed time for the creative juices to plan it, and the incredibly cheap resources to become known. We finally came up with some plans.

This summer just before we left for Africa we decided we better start our Kitchen re-do while the weather was still warm enough for the cupboard door paint to dry outdoors. 

We did complete most of the cupboards before we left and I also got my long awaited PLATE WALL done. It has been months since we put it up and I am still in love with it. 

Since our return, end of August, we have been plugging away on bringing this kitchen to completion. 

S L O W L Y...very very slowly - 

we have been making progress.

It's not too bad. We can still entertain. Just don't look up.. (we haven't painted the ceiling yet)

We also, up until yesterday, would have served your food to you on one extreme or another: 

 paper plates... or our wedding china.

It's not like I was unaware of the need - but our plastic plates were functional. And to be honest after time in Africa functional feels pretty good compared to a lot of the beliefs out there that we have to have the newest, best, beautiful designs & decor. Still,  I had been searching the WEB and stores for a SUPER DEALIO on plates. I just have this internal battle constantly at war within me between need, want and willing to pay the cost. Instead of wanting to purchase higher quality now that we are advancing in years I am finding us doing just the opposite. It is REALLY hard to want to purchase much of anything at all that is not a true need. If you watch much tv, read magazines, visit the mall, or listen to the radio you probably know what I am talking about. Our heads are plum-filled with the "have to have's, you deserve it's". 

Well - I ended up finding some fun, colorful plates at a local box store that were going to end up being pretty reasonable. We could purchase a la carte for a variety of colors and only pieces we would really use. Best of all - the REAL BONUS was... We would have plates for Christmas Dinner, and I would have my Christmas present. All in one quick stop and shop. 

However, on our way to purchase them my dear hubby wanted to stop at our local thrift store to see what goodies we might find to list on ebay / etsy. We always scour the plate aisle. 

Treasure uncovered indeed...

After walking the length of the aisle I noticed a scattering of delicious colors, shapes and sizes.

SCORE! This was WAY cheaper and WAY more fun. The photos don't show the fun textures and shapes of the plates - but you can see the colors. I am SO EXCITED! I can't tell you how good I feel about saving money and using items that could have easily ended up as landfill.

Let the GATHERING begin!

-Simply Sublime