Even though you can usually find ugly sweaters out there all year long, those really tacky ugly sweaters always come out around the Holiday season. With the season coming towards the end, it was time to break out those sweaters for our annual Ugly Sweater Day here at the office.

During the Holiday season, many people enjoy spending time with family and friends. When we have people over, we usually use these times to pull out the good plates and silverware to have a formal Holiday dinner. Since most of the year, many of us are pretty casual about our table setting, our Housewares team used the 10th day of Housewares to give us some tips on setting the table for the Holidays.

• Dinner Plate – This is the “hub of the wheel” and is usually the first thing to be set on the table.
• Forks – The forks are placed to the left of the plate. The dinner fork, the larger of the two, is used for the main course; the smaller fork is used for salad or appetizers. The forks are arranged according to when you need to use them.
• Napkin – The napkin is folded or put a napkin ring and placed either to the left of the forks or on the center of the dinner plate.
• Dinner Knife – The dinner knife is set immediately to the right of the plate, cutting edge facing inward.
• Spoons – Spoons go to the right of the dinner knife. The soup spoon goes to the far right of the dinner knife; the teaspoon or dessert spoon, which is used last, goes between the soup spoon and knife.
• Glasses – Drinking glasses of any kind – water, wine, juice, iced tea – are placed at the top right of the dinner plate, above the knife and spoons.
• Salad Plate – This is placed to the left of the forks. If salad is to be eaten with the meal, you can serve it on the dinner plate.
• Bread and Butter Plate – The bread plate goes above the forks with the butter knife place diagonally across the edge of the plate, handle on the right and blade facing down.
• Cup and Saucer – If coffee is being served with a meal, the cup and saucer are placed above and to the right of the knife and spoons.

Building a holiday wardrobe that will also integrate into your daily wardrobe can be a challenge. However, if you are mindful of the choices that you make you can easily turn holiday accent pieces and holiday clothing pieces into versatile members of your basic wardrobe. The key here will be to think about how you can use each piece of clothing that you buy for the holidays.

Color Choices
During the holiday season it is very common to purchase one or two pieces of clothing for special holiday events. For example, you may buy a Christmas dress or a special outfit for Hanukah. When selecting these items the color will often be used as the primary deciding factor for the purchase. Winter holiday colors usually include red, green, gold and silver. If you want to integrate your holiday clothing purchases into your normal wardrobe you need to be careful about what color choices you make. You will want to select colors that are festive but that do not have a hue that is too “Christmasy.” You will also want to avoid purchases of pieces that have color combinations that will limit their usability year round.

Pattern Choices
Pattern choices also need to be selected with a discerning eye. While holiday bell patterns and holiday characters are fun for the holiday season, you really cannot integrate these pieces into your wardrobe between January and October. You are much better off selecting more neutral patterns that have a base color that can be associated with your holiday of choice, but that do not have an exclusive symbolic tie to that holiday.

Accent Pieces
A simple way to create a holiday wardrobe that can transition with the changing of seasons is to select holiday accent pieces. These pieces can be combined to create holiday color combinations and to develop a holiday outfit. For example, you can pair a basic black sweater with a red or green scarf, or you can add a simple holiday pin to your sweater to give it a punch of holiday cheer without having to commit to the purchase of new clothing for the holidays. Great holiday accent pieces that you can add to your holiday wardrobe include scarves, pins, belts and hats.

It’s the festive time of year where everyone is planning their Holiday parties, and getting together all the recipes for their favorite holiday drinks. If you are looking for a great non-alcoholic fruit drink full of all those great holiday ingredients, we have a drink that is sure to get those Holiday juices going.

No matter what time of year, the Breville Die-Cast Juicer can help you make an unlimited amount of drinks. The powerful Breville juice fountain with 1000 watts of power makes delicious, fresh juice in a matter of seconds. With a 3” diameter feed tube, whole fruits and vegetables can be used without slicing them first.

Holiday Sparkle Juice:
4 Season Apples
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
Small piece of fresh ginger
1 1/2 cups seltzer
1/2 cup cranberry juice

Juice apples and ginger in your Breville Juice into a glass of seltzer. Add cinnamon and cranberry. Enjoy!