Christmas Brunch

The photos for this are not the greatest, so I apologize. It was a pretty "by the seat of my pants" brunch in comparison to my typical "planning" nature. I think I had just come back from a nice Thanksgiving break and rather than get organized and plan, I dove right into work and spent the rest of my free time socializing with everyone I missed while I was out of town! So, I'm ashamed to admit that as of 2am the morning of the brunch, my Christmas tree was up in my living room - with no lights or decorations, my table wasn't set and I didn't even have napkins! I did, however, have all of the food prepared (with the help of my amazing roommate!) and in the fridge...ready to pop in the oven. That's my kind of brunch :).  So, I went to bed at 3:30, slept until 7:30 and then got up to get to work!  In 3 short hours we decorated the tree, purchased napkins, decorated the table and put the food in the oven so that by the time the guests arrived - it was ready to go!

I should have taken better pictures of the centerpiece...although in the moment it wasn't my proudest work, so I didn't feel the need to focus on it.  Well, regardless of that, it's a good concept to use when you just need to "use what you have" and make it work.  I took a bouquet of flowers from Wal-mart and cut the stems off of each bud.  I then used my water glasses/tumblers, placing the flowers underneath (somewhat of a "magnify" effect) and around them - and then put some votives on top.  You could do this with stemware or any type of glassware (colored glass would be even more amazing!) and it gives a nice, simple, and most importantly...cost-effective centerpiece.  Not the most glamorous, but it worked!