ho, ho, hoooo noooo!

Well, I don't know about you all, but things here haven't been going very smoothly. My eldest has been home for the past two days with a stomach virus--missing exams. I forgot what time I was to pick-up Darren at the airport; then, on my way to the airport, I had a blow-out. God was watching over us--as we were traveling in the left lane around 70 MPH in the rain--and were able to pull over safely! Under an overpass, too! Kendall and Terry, my sister and brother-in-law, came to our rescue and we were back on the road quickly. We're finally home and hopeful that we've seen an end to the mishaps!

What do I owe you? Buffet decorations and a few gift ideas for yourself. It's the eleventh hour and I hope to wrap this up, so hold on . . .

By the way, I'm baking cookies and it's 6:41 am--the day after I started this! I also know that this is mot my unique situation! You're probably reading this while baking cookies at 11 p.m.

As I mentioned earlier, for your buffet or sideboard arrangement, you can "biggie size" it. This is a place where your imagination is the only limit.

If you have an old sled--like the Comet sled in my window display or if you're lucky enough to have one of those wooden European sleds--use it as a riser on the table--you'll actually use the sled as a secondary serving surface . Add a simple arrangement of pine, holly and/or magnolia boughs in an over sized vase--a galvanized bucket would be great! Or just use a mini tree--a red tinsel tree would add some flair! Continue the theme with last year's suggestion of using mittens for your utensil holders (roll-up place settings of flatware in napkins and stick them in a mitten). Drape a scarf through the arrangement. You can add individual packets of hot chocolate as "ornaments" for your tree and invite your guests to take one home when it's time to leave.

Another arrangement, with a more formal feel would be to use pedestal cake plates of varying heights--stacking them if necessary to achieve at least three heights--topped with a candle hurricane. That's the basic arrangement--now you can decide where to go, by determining your color theme. Winter white? Use white, clear or silver cake plates. Fill your hurricanes with ordinary play sand--about an inch or two on the bottom. Use white pillar candles and, if you like, add some of that fake snow everyone says they've seen at the mall, but I happen to know you can find downtown, too. It won't melt, even in close proximity to the candles. You can add it around the the candle inside the hurricane or around the hurricane on the cake plates. You can easily change the color theme with cranberries or kumquats around the candles; change the cake plates to red (hard to find, yes--but red glass paint--easy!) and add red or gold pillar candles.

The buffet is a great place to feature some garden statuary, too. It's over scale presence will lend a sense of grandeur to your arrangement. Pull in the stuff from your garden--removing the mulch and other loose items, but leaving the moss. Angels are a natural choice, but don't overlook the other items. Urns make great wine/champagne coolers; place your bird bath next to the buffet and add your punch service on top. Continue the natural, garden theme with greenery cuttings, terra cotta pots filled with pine cones and candles, etc. The pots are great to invert and use as risers for serving surfaces, too. You may wish to cut a little piece of that non-slip stuff you put under area rugs to prevent your serving plates from slipping off. This arrangement is the perfect place to add my favorite flower arranging device--our french market vase with candle holders. We've created some fabulous arrangements using this vase and encourage you to take a look at them when you next visiting Hodgepodge.