Magazine Spread-Worthy

I've never really understood my mom's obsession with dishware. I think she has four different sets of dishware. When I got married, I just registered for normal corningware. I didn't see the need for fancy dishes.

However, after this last Christmas, I can really see where my mom is coming from. Having festive dishes and decorations for a party can really contribute to the whole feeling of the party.

Get a load of my mom's table on Christmas Eve - these were my great-grandma's dishes, and my other grandma's silverware:

My mom bought those chocolate raspberry thingeys to add to the decor (and to snack on later). She is so clever:

Mom found these decorations at Roberts that match her dishware perfectly:

Gorgeous:

Mom had some extra cranberries from her ward party, so she used them to kind of garnish the water:

It kind of made the water taste weird, though! We probably won't do that next year. :)

And look at my mom's gorgeous new decorations for her tree:

They're bronze and gold. So pretty.

Mom asked me to bring some kind of jello, so I brought "yule salad":

I promise it wasn't hard. Not as hard as this jello was. Only three layers. No biggie.

We had roast pork, and since my sis, Lex, is a pescatarian (yes, that is a real term), she and dad bought some shrimp and veggies and made tempura:

She warned us not to eat too much of her shrimp. Trust me, you couldn't have paid me. I HATE fish. I would never, ever be a pescatarian. I did steal a few tempura mushrooms, though. Ohhhhh. I love tempura mushrooms. It brings back memories of Dave and Buster's in San Diego. They have the best tempura mushrooms in the whole wide world.

The food was great, and the company was great. We had a good meal. Thanks for hosting, Mama!