The Tale of the Holiday Table: One Family's Joyous Discovery
TV-dinner trays one year, garage dining another. Find out what made mishmash holiday dinners for this couple special anyway
Tiffany Carboni
December 8, 2013
Houzz Contributor. I am a home design writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Houzz Contributor. I am a home design writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.... More
Ever since we started dating about 15 years ago, my husband and I have always enjoyed hosting holiday parties. Our first was a dinner in which a dozen of our closest friends dressed up in postcollege finery doing our best impressions of being adults. My then-boyfriend and I refused to beg our friends to bring potluck offerings. Instead we opted to create our own buffet of oddly coordinated dishes that we set out in equally mismatched serveware. Some of it was presented on fine china that one of our parents was kind enough to loan us, while other items were laid out in scrappy Tupperware.
Our ridiculous arrangement was placed on my then-boyfriend’s itty-bitty kitchen table that we realized too late wasn’t going to hold everything. The spillover of our ill-planned menu required us to fetch TV-dinner trays from neighbors.
As in this photo, the kitchen table we were working with back then was great for three people, not for a party of 12.
As in this photo, the kitchen table we were working with back then was great for three people, not for a party of 12.
A swanky affair it was not, but it was a delightfully memorable one … and a telling glimpse into our future together as hosts. Our focus was clear: enjoy the company and delicious food, and don’t worry about creating the perfect ambience by trying to be something we weren’t.
This is a much lovelier dinner tray than the ones we borrowed. But in the end, no one remembered those ratty trays that kept threatening to tip over anyway, just the jovial spirit of the evening.
This is a much lovelier dinner tray than the ones we borrowed. But in the end, no one remembered those ratty trays that kept threatening to tip over anyway, just the jovial spirit of the evening.
A few years later we got married and bought a 1950s ranch. It was about 1,100 square feet, more than enough space for the two of us and our family to enjoy the holiday dinner we insisted on hosting. Compared to my husband’s previous apartment, our house was palatial. We didn’t mind that we had neither a dining room nor space for a table larger than that old, itty-bitty one that came with us.
Just as we had done before, we made do and enjoyed transforming our frigid, attached garage into a warm wonderland. We used borrowed white sheets to wall off all evidence of bikes, tools and laundry. These sheets also added a barrier between guests and the gaping holes our warped garage door created.
Behind this door is where we and our combined families spent our first Christmas together. Actually, this is a new (not warped!) door, one of the many house improvements we’ve been fortunate enough to make over the years.
Just as we had done before, we made do and enjoyed transforming our frigid, attached garage into a warm wonderland. We used borrowed white sheets to wall off all evidence of bikes, tools and laundry. These sheets also added a barrier between guests and the gaping holes our warped garage door created.
Behind this door is where we and our combined families spent our first Christmas together. Actually, this is a new (not warped!) door, one of the many house improvements we’ve been fortunate enough to make over the years.
We added numerous strands of white lights to eliminate the need for the flickering fluorescent bulbs held in their rusted fixtures. Next we pulled in our six-person patio set—a blessed wedding gift from our bridesmaids and groomsmen, who couldn’t have fathomed how helpful their gift would become in the middle of winter. We set the wooden-slat table with borrowed folding chairs, covered it with my grandmother’s tablecloth and our new wedding china and crystal, and turned the garage into an elegant, if humorous, dining room set for 10.
For warmth we cranked up space heaters and turned on the dryer to add some humidity right before everyone sat down. Yep, even our dryer wasn’t vented properly at the time; its flexible tubing ran toward the door, which we had to keep open every time we dried clothes. No matter; it was a fortuitous element in our uninsulated surroundings.
Three generations of our family squeezed together around the tight space. It wasn’t comfortable, but we all agreed it was the best celebration. Although there were much better houses among the family members to have the next such holiday dinner at, our tradition endured for another two years because everyone loved the simplicity and comedy of it all.
This table, as rickety as it has become over our dozen years of marriage, has been a godsend. Thank you, wedding party, for the most helpful gift!
For warmth we cranked up space heaters and turned on the dryer to add some humidity right before everyone sat down. Yep, even our dryer wasn’t vented properly at the time; its flexible tubing ran toward the door, which we had to keep open every time we dried clothes. No matter; it was a fortuitous element in our uninsulated surroundings.
Three generations of our family squeezed together around the tight space. It wasn’t comfortable, but we all agreed it was the best celebration. Although there were much better houses among the family members to have the next such holiday dinner at, our tradition endured for another two years because everyone loved the simplicity and comedy of it all.
This table, as rickety as it has become over our dozen years of marriage, has been a godsend. Thank you, wedding party, for the most helpful gift!
Since then we’ve added on to the house, creating our dream kitchen. The old kitchen’s footprint was turned into a sizable dining room with a proper table with leaves that can accommodate 10 people in comfortable, upholstered chairs. That dining room is my husband’s and my pride and joy. It’s where we’ve grown into better hosts with countless successful dinner parties under our belts. While many of these events include the new friends we’ve accumulated over the years, they also include the same crowd that came to that first party, when we were finding our way. This is the table as it was decorated for this past Thanksgiving.
Thankfully, we have no need to serve from TV trays anymore, and the patio set sits firmly outside, where it continues to serve our guests in summer and fall. Though we love our grown-up dining table and chairs, these furnishings aren’t what make the holidays special to us. It’s the love, laughter and happiness. Who knows, any year could have us eating Christmas dinner over a cardboard box. I hope not, but if it were to happen, my husband and I know some great tricks for making it the most welcoming holiday table imaginable.
More: How to Make a House a Haven Without Changing a Thing
Thankfully, we have no need to serve from TV trays anymore, and the patio set sits firmly outside, where it continues to serve our guests in summer and fall. Though we love our grown-up dining table and chairs, these furnishings aren’t what make the holidays special to us. It’s the love, laughter and happiness. Who knows, any year could have us eating Christmas dinner over a cardboard box. I hope not, but if it were to happen, my husband and I know some great tricks for making it the most welcoming holiday table imaginable.
More: How to Make a House a Haven Without Changing a Thing
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We've only been married a couple years and are still young and space-poor - but we have friends over to our apartment for dinner at least every week or two. We have fit up to eight people around our four-person dining table (which we pull into the living room). There's one dining chair that you can only sit on at a certain angle or it will collapse - oh well! Hospitality is about the people and a friendly, welcoming atmosphere - nothing else!