The most common fault in a Christmas table is height. Candles, centrepieces and tiered stands all creep upward until the people opposite each other are having two separate lunches.
Thirty Centimetres Is the Ceiling
Sit down at your own table before you dress it and put your hand at eye level. Nothing between two seated people should break that line. Candle rings are popular for exactly this reason – the light is at the table rather than above it, and a low ring of cones and berries fills the middle without building a wall.
Warm Metals or Cool Ones, Not Both
Gold and brass sit together. Silver and pewter sit together. Mixed, they read as an accident rather than a decision, and the fastest way to make a modest table look considered is to pick one temperature and hold it across chargers, cutlery and candle holders.
Give Everyone Something to Take Home
- A mini stocking at each place, name written on the cuff.
- Or one ornament per setting, hung on the back of the chair.
- Either doubles as the place card, which removes a job.
