There are just over two weeks until Christmas, so today I am sharing one of our Christmas traditions with you for Tabletop Tuesday. One of our Christmas traditions is that every Christmas I give our daughter, Samantha, a Spode Christmas ornament and a Spode Christmas plate. I try to make the ornament relevant to something we did that year together or something big that happened to her. For example, one year our family went to the Atlanta Ballet’s The Nutcracker, so the Spode ornament I gave her was their nutcracker one. Another year Samantha and I did a tea advent calendar together. Each day we sampled a new kind of tea. So the ornament I gave her that year was the Spode teacup ornament. This year’s ornament is just perfect. I don’t want to ruin the surprise for her, so I’ll come back later to edit what it is. (Edit: the Spode ornament I gave Samantha for 2020 is the car ornament. She got her drivers license this year, so this ornament seemed perfect!)
As I said, I also give her a Spode Christmas Tree plate. By the time she gets married she’ll have a set of Christmas plates to use and a set of heirloom ornaments for her very own tree. I went with the Spode Christmas Tree pattern because it has consistently been in production for quite some time. When I started I felt that I would still be able to buy her pieces years from now without worrying that they would stop making it.
Each year I write a little message on the ornament box with Sharpie. Just something like, “2015, the year we went to the Nutcracker. Love, Mom.” Just a little note so she knows why I picked that ornament.
I have my own set of Spode Christmas tree plates that are vintage and made in England. I like to mix and match them at Christmastime with Blue Willow and also with either Johnson Brothers “Old Britain Castles” or Johnson Brothers “T’was the Night.”
I’ve linked everything pictured here in my LIKEtoKNOW.it. Click HERE to find these everything you need to recreate this look.
I’m always interested in other people’s traditions. Feel free to share yours with me in the comments below.
Merry Christmas,
Abby
Belle Antiquarian 
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