Never underestimate the power of the dining table!

If you are reading this you already know how OCD I am...  Yes, of course....  I've already set my table for Christmas...   I just can't help myself....  There are
three generations represented at this table...  The salad plates and the crystal water glasses belonged to my grandmother, Agnes Regina Flaherty!    The silver and china belonged to Charlie's mom, dear Joanne Wade Brekke.    The modern water goblets were wedding gifts to Charlie and me...

The silver is Towle Old Master.  The China is Lennox Creton, (discontinued if you're wondering)...  My mother-in-law had exquisite taste.  I so wish she was still with us...  We lost her way too early...

The salad plates are ancient Noritake, pre-occupation.  The modern crystal is from 1984, Lennox Intrigue.   The gold-leaf edged water goblets are who knows what!  Whatever, they were my grandmother's, Agnes Regina, and I'm thrilled to have them.

Most of the food for our Christmas Feast will come from my mother's recipes, Margaret Laverne Flaherty.  I've already prepared her sour cream potatoes and her special frozen cranberry salad...  The Apricot Delight is still to come....  There's beef tenderloin, shrimp scampi, honey baked ham and tons of sides and desserts...   I just hope we get through the next 12 days without Fall Calls, ERs or ICUs...

I so hope my mom will remember some of her recipes and enjoy the day with us...  She always loved to decorate and set the table with her finest china and crystal.  I like to think that I inherited that enjoyment from her...  

I have to set the table a couple of weeks ahead.  I think my OCD might be from my dad....  No matter.  I'm grateful for it all..  He was always the top salesman for McGraw-Hill Book Company for 38 years...  And before that, he worked for his Uncle Waldo P. Johnson, the founder of Webster Publishing Company.  My dad has a pretty darn good and successful record..   Because of his hard work, my college was paid for and I had a really nice car when I left home for my first job... 

 I MISS MY DAD!

  Go on now and set your Christmas table...  Get the food ready and in the freezer..  If you ever knew my dad you'd know that Johnson was no slacker and you'd better get your butt in holiday gear!