September 2 ~~~ Labor Day
A celebration table that will
set the joie de vivre for any of our patriotic holidays...
Just seeing red, white, and blue cheers me!
Hurrah for the red, white, and blue,
may it wave as our banner forever...
Holidays bring families together
to enjoy good food, to enjoy laughter, and
to enjoy swapping stories.
To show how important families are to us,
we set tables with special dishes and decor.
The table runner is two kitchen towels from France.
I mixed the unexpected red dominoes with
traditional themes of stars and stripes for a fun table
and as a reminder of fun games to come later this day.
Lots of memories of good times/jokes recanted to
young, old, new to the family, those who
just want to hear it again...
"Mr. J took a bite of Mrs. J's ice cream,
when she asked for a bite of his in return,
he said, 'close your eyes, open wide,'
and gave her a BIG spoonful...
of MAYONNAISE."
Most of us do not have
sets and sets of dishes to create
a multi-layered place setting.
The red, white, and blue striped layer is
a french fries paper holder from World Market.
Flags and flowers...
The American and French flags are in an
antique blue bottle.
White flowers, red berries, and blue stars...
Place cards are homemade using white card stock
trimmed with deckle-edge scissors and
decorated with US Postage stamps.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~Justice~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~Equality~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~Freedom~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~Liberty~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words that describe ideals we hold dear...
The fleur de lis is a nod to
the French who celebrate
the French National Day of independence,
known as Bastille Day,
on July 14.
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
The national motto of France...
Stories of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, babies...
AND
Stories of time spent serving
in the military, defending our freedom.
Three nephews, brothers in the same family,
who were career military...
The oldest in the Air Force, the middle one in the Navy, and
the youngest in the Army...
Each with different stories...
Tours in Iraq...
Working in the Pentagon on Sept. 10, 2001,
but not on Sept. 11, 2001...
Repairing ships...
Moods lighten and thoughts turn to
dominoes "42" which is one of the favorite games in this family.
After the dishes are washed and put away,
the centerpiece remains and so does the
patriotic basket on the coat closet door
seen from the table.
A faded American flag design basket holds
American and Texas flags,
plus flag tissue paper,
bluebonnet printed ribbon,
and a flag decorated legal envelope.
The patriotic basket will hang
all summer
from the closet door hook
as a celebration
of all our
red, white, and blue holidays.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Renaissance Lapis china by Fitz and Floyd
Jamestown Red glasses by Fostoria
Stainless flatware by Towle
White Madeline plates by Pier I
Blue chargers by Kirklands
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