the most gorgeous holiday tablescape

As you guys know, I love to entertain.

Give me a free weekend with nothing on our agenda and I’ll figure out some excuse to have people over — sometimes with an hour or two of notice, sometimes with a month. When I have the time, energy, and resources, there’s nothing I like more.

And I’ve learned something really important from many years of obsessive hostessing: your guests want to see you. They’re not showing up to evaluate your home cooking or crafting as compared to Pinterest. They want to hang out; they want to catch up. They do not want you to be stuck in the kitchen whipping up homemade treats for them, all by yourself.

When we lived in New York, I learned this the hard way (sort of). I invited a dozen or so friends over to our apartment, and just placed a tray of toasted baguette slices into our oven when the doorbell rang with the first guest. Twenty minutes later, I had forgotten completely about those little toasts, and I was enjoying talking with a few friends when, suddenly, I smelled something… burning.

My homemade recipe was done-zo. Or, more accurately, ha ha, it was toast.

And, you know what? No one cared.

The party went on, I hung out with our friends, and the toasts were forgotten. No one starved.

And from that, I learned my lesson. The next time we invited friends over, I didn’t make everything from scratch. I bought some beautiful items, laid them out in a pretty way, and everyone ooh-ed and aah-ed the same as they always did.

I still love setting out the most beautiful dishes, and creating the prettiest table. But lately — especially with a new baby, when my time is not just limited but essentially nonexistant — I’ve been embracing the beautiful things that are also easy.

And on that note, let me introduce Shari’s Berries. These beautiful little treats are stunningly gorgeous, and they’re literally the perfect thing to break out when you want to present a beautiful table with very minimal effort.

Also, they make chocolate-covered Oreos with Christmas decorations on them. Are you sold yet?

I picked out some of my favorites for this post, but there are so many more beautiful options on their websites. From handmade snowmen brownie pops to cake truffles in gift boxes with quirky little sayings, their website has everything you need to be the ultimate holiday hostess.

So sit back, relax, and don’t burn the toast.