Wreathmakers bring you a great side dish to compliment your Holiday menu:

It is usually quite easy to come up with a main dish for your Christmas dinner and casserole recipes are everywhere, especially variations of the ever famous Green Been Casserole.  Sometimes it is nice to have a little twist on a simple, classic side dish of vegetables.

Sweet and Sour Green Beans Ingredients:

3- 13 oz cans of Green Beans

or

2 pkgs of frozen Green Beans Cooked

Retain the juices

1/2 C Onion chopped or sliced

1/2 C Sugar

3 Strips of Bacon

6 T Vinigar

1/4 tsp pepper

pinch of salt

Making Sweet and Sour Green Beans:

1. Cut bacon into small pieces and Cook bacon in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until well-browned. Add onion and cook until translucent. Stir in flour and cook 2 minutes more.
2. Pour vinegar and 3/4 cup of the reserved green bean liquid into the pan. Add sugar, salt, and pepper, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and stir in the green beans. Continue cooking at a low simmer until beans are hot.

Sweet and Sour Green Beans Tips:

To add more spices to this recipe you could add some white wine, seasoned salt and garlic, either fresh or powder.

Wreathmakers brings you a sweet Potato Treat with this Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe

This is a delicious alternative to the standard sweet potatoes you serve with your dinner. It will have your family coming back for more!!

Sweet Potato Casserole Ingredients:

3 C Sweet Potatoes mashed and drained
1/2 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 C Evaporated Milk
1/3 C melted Butter

Making Sweet Potato Casserole and Topping:

Mix together the above ingredients and put into a 2 Quart casserole dish

Topping:
1/3 C. Melted Butter
1 C. Brown Sugar
1 C. Walnuts or Pecans

Mix together and place on top of Potato mixture.
Back at 400 degrees for 40-50 Minutes.

Decorating your Christmas Table can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you want. If you are going to shop for items to use on your dinner table,
be sure to set a budget. Even better, if you want to find bargins, either shop early or shop after Christmas for clearance sales.

1) To begin with, unless you have a really beautiful table top, you are going to want to find a table cloth. You can either purchase one already
made to fit your table, or you can purchase fabric and make your own. It really is quite simple.

Measure the length of your table and add the amount you want for an overhang plus 1″ for seam allowance. Also measure width.
Most fabrics come in widths of anywhere from 32″ to 60″.
See a fabric size conversion chart

Click here for more information on making your own table cloth.

2) The next items you will want are dinnerware, flatware (silverware), and stemware.

Dinnerware: There are tons of choices for holiday dinnerware on the market.
You could choose a holiday pattern like these from Lenox:

View Seasonal Dinnerware
View Standard Dinnerware

Be careful though if you choose to use a pattern that you don’t make the table too busy or gaudy.  With patterned dinnerware, you could keep the table cloth and napkins plain and keep the decorations to a minimum.
You could also choose a plane pattern in a color that match your table.

Flatware or silverware: Flatware will also be an important part of your dinner table. Again, there are many choices on the market for
flatware.
Below are just a few.

View Flatware Here

Napkins and Napkin Rings: Here is a link to a great website called storybookwoods that teaches you how to make napkins into recipes that your dinner guests can keep.  Also BHG on You Tube has some great videos on how to fold napkins.

Folding a Tree Napkin

Folding a Showflake Napkin

This Napkin Folding Guide gives you step by step picture instructions for many different ways to fold napkins.
View Cloth Napkins Here
View Napkin Rings Here

Stemware: Stemware comes in as many shapes and sizes as you could possibly imagine. Listed below are just a few of the thousands of choices out there.

View Stemware

Something that intriques me greatly is the use of recycled glass for stemware. In a world where “Going Green” is a household word,
using 100% recycled glass stemware just makes sense.

100% Recycled Glass Stemware

Of course using what you have is always an option. Just be sure to match your table cloth, napkins and decorations to your dishes if
they are patterned or a certian color. Now days it is easy to find Christmas decorations in every color.

3) Now we get down to the fun part…adding decorations…I have included several links here that will give you some ideas on how to put everything together.
Ribbon and Bows are a beautiful way to add warmth, color and sparkle to your holiday table.
Bows are easy to make once you know how.

Bows can be added to the back of each of your chairs.

If you are using folding chairs, you can also add some fabric and cushions to the chairs to add comfort and beauty. This can also be done if you are using unmatched chairs at your table.

Or you could just leave your chairs unmatched for a little country charm

Jars of all shapes and sizes are beautiful when filled with your favorite christmas decorations in colors to match your table.

Real pine centerpeices are beautiful to use on your Christmas Dinner table.

Though the real pine centerpeices are beautiful, there are a couple of words of warning:

• Be sure that your guests do not have alergies to pine as pine can have a strong scent, especially when it has become warm.
• Be sure that you keep water in your centerpeice. There is floral foam in the center which absorbs water to keep each stem wet.
• It is a good idea, if you purchase your real pine center peices early in the season, that you try to keep them in a cool place, at least part of the time.
• The idea is that you have a fresh, beautiful, decoration on your table the day of your dinner party.

Candles are a great way to add warmth and sparkle to you table. Place candles on mirrors for extra brilliance.

Add metalic garland around the table or use the packaged metalic icecycles to create even more shimmer.

Watch this great video for some real inspiration.

See More Table Top Decorating