New Moon, New Year

A new year is a time for new beginnings, for celebrating the past and welcoming the possibilities of the future. This holds true whether you celebrate the new year on a fixed date (January 1) or celebrate it when the moon is new (January 25 in 2020).

Or of course, you can celebrate both days! Chinese New Year gives me a great reason to use pretty dishware, rich colors and dragons from my husband's collection. Although I'm not planning to set a table for it this year, I've created a small display within my glassware cabinet.

The colors in the salad plates play off the cranberry and blues of the stemware above. The light strips in the cabinet beautifully enhance the delicate colors of the crystal and spotlight the dishes, but they make it difficult to take good photographs.

I talked about some of the cabinet decisions we made in my previous post about our renovated kitchen. I am really enjoying being able to view the sparkle and beauty of the crystal. This cabinet showcases colored vintage stems — Fostoria 'Navarre', Cambridge 'Moonlight Blue' and a pattern from Steuben that I think is 'Rose Swirl'. There's also Schott-Zwiesel 'Conte Sapphire', a treasured wedding gift.

The dragon is verdigris painted cast iron. The plates are Williams-Sonoma 'New Moon'.

I thought I'd reach into the archives to share a mini roundup of tables that I hope will inspire you to create a new year celebration of your own. Just click on the titles to see all the photos from each post.

Lunar New Year featured horses and a magnificent dragon.

 Year of the Dog was inspired by Blanc de Chine porcelain figurines.

Chinese New Year, Vintage Style was based on golds and reds. 

Here's to a wonderful new year!!