Christmas Sled in the Dining Room

I had a flood of ideas come to mind that day in October when I walked into my local Michael's craft store.  They had a great-looking display featuring Christmas greenery, frosty berries and snowy pine cones.  I had grown tired of my Christmas tablescape in my formal dining room.  It was easy, fast and always looked great...for the last......14 years.  Years.  Yes.  I had used the same idea for my table for 14 years (I'm ashamed to admit it).   Well, now that I've said that, let's move on to this year---back to Michael's.  In less than five minutes, I had my new table decor all planned in my head.  Over the next few weeks, I began to search for and purchase all the components that I thought might look good on the table (I'll note where I made my purchases at the end of this post). I already had the MAIN item for my table. A SNOW SLED!  Yes, a snow sled.  And not a cute little miniature snow sled----I was going to use a real snow sled!  When I mentioned my new table idea to a few folks, they seemed interested in the idea but I could tell some couldn't quite imagine what my dining room table might look like with a full-sized sled as a centerpiece. 

Well............ It looks great! 

I purchased my vintage sled several years ago and have enjoyed using it as a part of my Christmas decor. It usually sits at our fireplace hearth in our family room. I often see sleds propped up by fireplaces or doors and porches on Pinterest--- I haven't seen them on formal dining room tables, though. 

I started with a new plaid table runner.

(I tried a burlap table runner, but fell in love with the plaid).

I added the sled. 
  I placed it at a slight angle and I made sure that

I could still seat guests around the table, too.

I added fresh greenery and pine cones.  

I clipped up a few icy-looking berry sprays

 and tucked them into the greenery.

I also bought and clipped up one package of frosty sticks.  

I tucked these into the greenery, too.

I added some distressed-looking silver mercury glass ornaments.

I added some "snow" flakes.  

Here in central Alabama, we don't have white Christmases....

unless we MAKE them ourselves.

I added the cute galvanized deer--one to each end of the table.
I added the red mercury glass candle holders and a bit more snow.

The hardest decision was the charger.

  I have galvanized chargers, but they didn't look right with my Christmas china. 
 I didn't want to use red chargers, either.
But, I had these burlap ones and I thought they
 looked okay with the china. 

I used these cute plaid napkins with the plain napkin rings

 (I kinda miss the Santa face napkin rings I've been using for so many years--sniff).

I added the poinsettia and dressed it with a burlap bow.  I had planned to use an old crock to hold the poinsettia, but it wasn't a good fit.  Instead of the crock, I used this vintage, galvanized calf-nursing bucket.  It's perfect!

The head of the table.

The foot of the table.

Here's the last view of my table. 
 I'm pleased that I tried something new this year.  I can get pretty happy in my rut---do you like a rut or something new every year?
Here's the link to my previous Christmas table decor:

Nutcracker Dining Room Table

Plaid table runner-T. J. Maxx

Frosty sticks-Michael's

Icy berry sprays-Michael's

Galvanized deer-Hobby Lobby

Plaid napkins-Hobby Lobby 

Red candle holders-Target, T. J. Maxx and Michael's

Other items I mentioned and already had:

Burlap chargers: Hobby Lobby

Christmas china:  Country Holly by Lenox

Napkin rings: Belk

Joining the Party:

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