Welcome to the 795th Tablescape Thursday! Merry Christmas! I have a wonderful table to share with you today–Elena has created a beautiful table for Christmas!
Do you recognize some of the scenes on the tablecloth? They are a hint to the wonderful dinnerware Elena chose for her table.
If you were a big fan of the Better Homes and Gardens Heritage Christmas dinnerware that so many of us collected back when it was being produced each Christmas, the scenes in the tablecloth are bound to look familiar.
Elena has a wonderful collection of the BH & G train plates that were available one year. Did you collect any of those when they were available at Wally World?
I have this thing for trains. Whenever I go antiquing around the Marietta Square, I almost always get caught at the tracks by one of the many trains that runs right through the heart of the square. In this older photo that I shared back when I visited the Gone With The Wind Museum, you can see how close the train tracks are to the historic buildings that surround the square. Whenever I get stuck waiting at the tracks for a train to pass, I love to roll down the windows to hear the rumbling and feel the power as it passes through. When I visit my son and his family, though their home is located in a neighborhood that’s far away from the tracks, often late at night, way off in the distance, I can hear a train blowing its whistle. I love that sound! I hope our trains never stop running.
I was so excited when I saw Elena had set a table with these wonderful BH & G train plates!
I just know this Christmas train must be loaded down with wonderful toys and gifts! Isn’t that what all trains carry at Christmastime? Love how Elena paired the plates with the pretty, green, braided chargers that were available in Williams Sonoma a year or so back. The green chargers don’t appear to be available this year, but they do have beautiful, green, lattice chargers here: Lattice Charger Plates.
Love Elena’s tablecloth! The border is filled with all the wonderful imagery we know and love from the Better Homes and Gardens Heritage dinnerware.
It even includes the train! ♥ Elena found her wonderful tablecloth on eBay. I don’t ever remember seeing the tablecloths in my local store, so glad to know they are still available via eBay. I found a bunch here: Better Homes and Garden Heritage Tablecloth.
Beautiful vintage glassware…
Elena chose the perfect centerpiece for this table! Love this so much! About her centerpiece, Elena said, “I REALLY wanted village scenes throughout the table, but could NOT find anything that wasn’t ridiculously expensive. TJ Maxx had some small ceramic Christmas houses early in the season but I did not buy them when I saw them, a week later they were all gone! Over the summer I plan to put together plastic model kits of houses and buildings in N gauge for next year. I might even put it all on a board so it’s easier to just plunk down in the middle of the table. The train will actually run, I found a small battery-operated transformer that I need to hide somewhere, maybe in the center bowl–The Lenox Nativity Bowl.”
Here’s a view from above looking down on this wonderful table. You just know Elena’s family is going to love this Christmas table with its nostalgic train centerpiece and her wonderful Christmas train dinnerware!
Thanks so much to Elena for sharing her beautiful holiday table with us! Looking forward to the beautiful tables linked for this week’s Tablescape Thursday! (If you enjoyed this post, subscribe for email updates when a new post is up here: Subscribe for post updates.)
Tablescape Thursday
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Love this tablescape that Elena put together! I hope she has grandsons that would enjoy the train rolling along the track! Merry Christmas to all!
Thank you so much Maureen! No grandkids yet, but eventually!!! We have owned and run a hobby shop for over 32 years so we’re all into trains! Have a Happy New Year!!!!
Elena I love the train on the Christmas table!! What an adorable idea!!
Do you have a website for your hobby shop? Merry Christmas Everyone!
I don’t know where I was when those dishes came out or I would have a set! My husband’s 35 year career was with railroads so we love all things trains. I always love your blog, especially on Thursdays.❤️
We have had a hobby shop for over 32 years and love trains as well!!! We even have a full size rail road crossing that works! I was looking for nice plates with a train on them when I came across these on eBay and could NOT resist. Have a Happy New Year Nancy!!!!
Oh that is so fun! And lovely too! Elena always does such a wonderful job with her tables. I would love to be at that one, watching the train go around! As always, thanks so much to both of you for sharing, and to you for hosting! Hope you have a wonderful, wonderful Christmas!
Barbara, my kids wanted to add a flat car so they could send butter pats rolling around the table!!! That would be a hoot! Enjoy your holiday!!!
Hahaha – that’s great!
That’s one lovely and Christmasy table. I thought for sure that the train would be for passing the salt and pepper! Merry Christmas Elena and Susan.
Thank You Mia!! I am positive that by Christmas dinner my kids will have all sorts of things going around the tracks…..salt, pepper, butter, gravy, HA! Who knows!!!!
Fun tablescape with functioning trains. Great conversation starter around the dinner table.
HHhmmmm…I may have to add one with sounds for a real conversation!!!!
Beautiful job Elena. I collect miniatures. One of my first was a tiny train from Germany nearly 60 years ago in a box maybe 4 inches long. I am also loving the glassware. When a tablescape or vignette brings back memories it’s always a winner.
Merry Christmas
Oh Myrna, thank you for noticing the glassware! I could never find out the manufacturer or pattern………I believe it was my grandmothers first set of glassware. Maybe from the 20’s or 30’s? I still remember her serving some kind of parfait in them when I was a little girl…………..I guess this IS the season for memories!! Enjoy the holidays!!!!
Adorable with the train! I always wanted to run a board with a train all around the great room near the ceiling. There was an ice cream place here, Swansons, years ago that had a train running all around the top of the restaurant. So cute , just loved going there. Maybe the transformer could be under a little gift wrapped box with no bottom for ease of use?
GOOD idea for the transformer! I will probably do that!! We have a lot of customers who run trains around a room near the ceiling………..GREAT way to have fun with trains!!!
Love it. I did buy those plates because we actually have a number of coal-fired trains that look just like that in eastern WV (Cass). They do leaf-peeping trips in fall. My neighbor volunteers there (Cass Rrailroad), and is a professional photographer. He has taken phenomenal shots of the trains with their billowing smoke.
And being as we live in coal country and are situated along the river, large trains full of COAL run through our capital city. I joked the other day with my husband and said “there’s goes all the coal for the bad kids”.
HaHa! About 20 years ago Lionel made a two pack with two hopper cars, one for the nice kids was full of presents and the other was for the naughty kids and was full of coal!!! I love the old steam locomotives!!! Have a happy holiday Rita!!!
dear Susan,
I do hope you can help me. I love dishes so very much and enjoy the varied tablescapes you present!! but I am finding that many of my dishes are just getting too heavy to manage. I have a move coming up and am thinking it would be a good time to revamp this situation. I’m thinking a basic set of (light weight) white and just adding seasonal salad plates? what do you think? suggestions would be very welcome!!
Laura, several years ago I purchased an inexpensive set of white dinnerware from Big Lots and oh, my gosh, I have used those dinner plates from that set so much over the years, in the exact way that you’ve described. Often, I’ll purchase salad plates in a really cute design and pair those with my white plates. I’ve found over the years that if you don’t want to buy an entire new set of dinnerware, just buy the salad plates and pair them with white dinner plates and it makes for a beautiful table! Back in 2011, I did a post about this very idea, creating a lot of different tables by just changing the salad plate. The photography isn’t the greatest, but you can see that post here: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/how-to-create-beautiful-table-settings-on-a-budget-welcome-to-the-132nd-tablescape-thursday/
The part about using white dinnerware to create a lot of different tables/looks starts midway down that post. I can’t remember the brand of white dinnerware I purchased but it may have been Gibson. Walmart carries Gibson. Some of the Gibson dinnerware can be heavy, but the set I have is not. It’s just a normal weight.
Corelle makes really light dinnerware and they’ve been around forever. I just check Amazon and found this set: https://amzn.to/3GU4C5H I don’t know a lot about their dinnerware but it may be worth checking into if weight is the biggest issue for you.
Hope this helps a bit! Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you and your family!
XXX
thank you so much for the information and the inspiration!! now to make some decisions!!
What a fun idea of the train as a center piece! Love it.
Thank You Warren! As we own a hobby shop we HAD to use a train that actually ran, but you could always just put a larger train on a piece of track in the center of the table. (which was my back up plan!!!)
Hey just checking up on post. Question where did you find the small train set on table. My grandkids would love that on the table for our family meals during Christmas. Thanks Ce Ce
Hi Ce Ce! We own a hobby shop so it was easy, LOL!!! The train on the table is N gauge due to width restrictions I needed a small diameter. N gauge is a little finicky, it did not like the bumps in the vinyl/flannel table protector under the table cloth, until I smoothed them out. The train set I used is The Spirit of Christmas by Bachmann. I actually did not use the track it came with as a 24″ width would have been wider than the space between my Charger plates. If I had not found a smaller diameter for the oval I would have done a circle of the track and that would have worked. If the train does not need to run, you might be able to find something at a yard sale or thrift shop. If the n gauge train set did not work out I was going to just put a straight piece of track down the middle of the table with a larger antique train on it. Let me know if you have other questions about the trains