Here is a little gift for you, dear readers, and a big announcement. ….
I actually wanted to publish this post before Christmas but you know how it is, with all the family arriving, the cooking, the wrapping of gifts and some travelling in-between, I really don’t know where the days went to.
So instead of calling this my Christmas gift, let’s set a new fashion for New Year gifts instead!
Happy New Year!
This video is a teaser for the lifestyle videos that I shall be bringing you throughout the coming year. I am very excited about these videos, and plan to take you into beautiful homes all over France to talk about home decor, home and garden design, cooking, antique hunting and well, …. just authentic french living.
Today the theme is simple, laying a table for a festive meal in the chateau d’Emalleville, home to my friend Frédérique, one of the girlfriends featured in my book.
I hope you have enjoyed the holiday season and have something great planned for new year’s eve, be it a small dinner with friends or a huge party and dancing to dawn.
Thank you so much for reading me this year, I’m looking forward to 2016, and all the fun things that we’ll be doing together.
121 comments
Hello Sharon
First time posting, although I have followed you for a very long time.
What a lovely table you dressed. I admire the understated aesthetic the French use for Holiday decorating. I got a particular kick out of the lights on the tree. In America you would never see one lone strand of lights haphazardly draped on the tree, but I love it!!
I am looking forward to you other videos. Your blog is beautiful and a highlight to my days. Thank you for all your hard work you put into this blog and Bonne Annee!!
Absolutely Gorgeous setting and video, Sharon- what a treat!! Thank You so much for sharing your many talents with all of us, Wishing you and all you hold dear a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous New Year!!
So very gorgeous. Look forward to more French sites. Thank .
Love this video! The holidays can be so busy that sometimes decorating the dining room table doesn’t happen so this definitely inspires me to plan ahead!
Lovely! Thank you for sharing and I really look forward to future videos and blog posts as well!
This the way I love Christmas “ambiance”… elegance – that rhymes with ambiance – and very especially welcoming. Every one feels good at yours.
You got the french touch ! Thanks for sharing !
I wish you a joyful New Year Eve surrouded with all tose you love ♥
So charming! Thank you Sharon for all of the hard work and creativity that goes into bringing such beauty into our lives! You are my favorite blogger. Bonne Annee!!
Sharon, so fun to hear you speak and watch how this table came together. Looking forward to more! Wishing you a very Happy New Year!
so inspirational I love this
Loving your site. It has some great ideas which I hope to incorporate into my new house in France…once we have hot water and heating!
Lovely!
Sharon – what a wonderful gift! I look forward to more videos starring . . . YOU! And the homes of your French girlfriends.
Merci and Bonne Annee!
Vicky
Simply gorgeous! Thank you for this gift! And yes please, more videos!
Wishing you a joyous and blessed 2016!
Dear Sharon:
Just absolutely lovely! Looking forward to more and so very happy I discovered your blog. It is my treat for the day when I see a post in my email.
All the best to you and your family in the New Year!!
Lovely French inspiration! Even the lions had a contemplative expression in their eyes.
Looking forward to more videos in the new year.
To a wonderful happy healthy 2016.
Merci beau coup !! Magnifique!!!!!!!
Dear Sharon, You website is just great, I look forward to future videos of Normandy Country homes and your amazing friends, we have your latest book!! We have many wonderful friends in Deauville and travel to Normandy on a regular basis.
Hope to meet you one day.
Bonne Annee
Thank you. Merci beaucoup. Looking forwards to your other videos.
Bonne Annee Sante.
Danielle
Fantastic! Merci! Wonderful video and I am so looking forward to the ones coming in the New Year! Blessings to you and your family in 2016!
Oh Sharon this is a gorgeous tables ape and I love the video. Looking forward to your new series. Best wishes for a Healthy and Happy New Year!
OMG!!!
WHAT A GIFT!!!
YOU have taken me BACK THERE!
TO think I ate off those utensils!!
AND to think I found not one set but TWO in GIVERNY and then had my jewelry man engrave OUR INITIALS on the BACK!!!!!
SO< in around about excited way I am saying I too can make YOUR TABLE!I have all the accessories!!
Loved hearing YOUR VOICE!
(Thank you for your email……….I saw it.Read it on my phone and now cannot find it!!!!!!!)
Eres fantastica, tengo tu libro y espero todo lo mejor para ti este nuevo año.Felicidades
Thank you so much for sharing. Just lovely.
Happy New Year.
I love the details – laying a table like this really is something special for your guests. I look forward to your other videos! Bonne Année!
Truly fun and delightful video. You have a very warm, soft, beautiful voice; the perfect narration; equally inviting to listen to.
What a beautifully elegant table you laid! Love the use of the roses, and the candlelight, and the understated elegance of the tree! Love your video! Waiting for the next one!!
Simply done and elegant! Also fun to hear you narrating; thanks for this gift. Will look forward to more. Love your book & your friends! Enjoy your NYE and be well in 2016.
Fabulous video, what a great idea and terribly inspirational for everyone. I have the same glasses and use them every day. Hope you have a wonderful New Year’s Eve and very best wishes for a happy and healthy 2016 x
Happy and healthy 2016 to you, your family and friends. Looking forward to your blog next year.
Utterly charming and beautiful, yet another extension of your incredible talent. I’m in awe.
Happy, happy new year dear Sharon. xox
How lovely to hear your voice Sharon! It’s funny but I have often wondered what you voice sounds like, now I know! Beautiful table, so festive. Thank you for this lovely gift & I can’t wait to see & hear more. Happy New Year to you & your family! X
So quietly lovely. Already looking forward to your next presentation.
Love the video, what a beautiful dinningroom. Love how you decorated the table,it looked beautiful.
Have a Blessed New Year.
Beautiful table and video! Thank you for putting it together. Wishing you and your family a Very Happy New Year!
Lovely video and commentary, Sharon. The table is beautiful. I especially like the flowers in the liqueur glasses. That would work well for a small table or tiny setting.
The placing of the forks led me to look up why you would place them with the tines face down. I never realised this is the European way, where as the British is tines up.
You live and learn – thanks for sharing – the ambience, wonderful.
HI Cecelle
I believe that forks are often placed facing down to show the monograms, and maybe initially as a courtesy, to avoid fork prongs getting involved with lace cuffs maybe?
All of these cultural differences have a simple source that is often lost with time
best
Sharon
Absolutely lovely, Sharon! You are good! Happy New Year!
Really enjoyed the video. It’s something I get a tremendous joy out of……decorating a table for a special occasion. This year I used all my antique blue and white China with vintage silver cutlery and some plain white french tableware mixed in. I don’t believe in keeping pretty things locked away in cupboards.
So looking forward to more videos. I find your blog very inspiring. We are hoping to move to Northern France ourselves when my husband retires in a couple of years.
Sharon, your lovely video just took it to the next level! Hope to see many more in 2016. Here’s to a hpppy and healthy New Year ahead.
I just love to watch this video! Thank you for sharing! I wish you a happy and healthy New Year!!
I love your video and look forward to the next! Your book is my new favorite too. Thank you for all of the beauty you bring to so many people!
Beautiful centerpiece! I’ve never thought to use a garland. Plan to do so next year. Thanks for all your great ideas. Looking forward to viewing more videos in 2016. Happy New Year!
Thank you so much!!
So nice to hear your voice, Sharon. What a lovely idea! I look forward to more videos.
Thank you. You clearly give so much pleasure to so many people. Such talent is rare.
Happy New Year to you too!
I love the video, thank you.
Love this so much Sharon!!! I can’t wait to watch every single video you post. So beautiful! Love you and miss you much! Happy New Year, can’t wait to come visit this spring!!!
Thank you for sharing your joys….making them ours.
Magnifique table pour une très belle fête. On a vraiment une grande envie de s’asseoir et de participer à ce festin.
comment vous êtes béni
I hope that says ,how blessed you are
What a lovely voice you have! I look forward to each new video.
Thank you for the many beautiful posts throughout the year, you truly are an inspiration.
I love the idea of teaching videos and look forward to the next one!
Karen B
Beautiful video. I’ve never seen the forks turned down before. Looking forward to the other videos.
Sharon, I set a very similar table this year for 19 people, obviously yours was better and
I have taken some of your wonderful ideas to enhance our table next year.
I feel so very fortunate to be on your blog and truly look forward to this coming year
with your videos. I too was born in England; I LOVE France and I live in Pennsylvania USA.
Sincerely Jennifer
Lovely Sharon, congrats ~ you done good! Happy 2016 every day:) xo
What a fun surprise. Unique. Appreciated. Keep your blog just as you have. Simplistic
French. You are very clever. I like the serpentine strand of lights on the tree, the beautiful red roses in the vase, with touches of red on the table. Elegant. The setting,
perfectly, perfect. Just enough twinkle, so open too. The video a special twist. Looking forward to much more. Thank you and Blessed New Year 2016.
I will join all the others in saying how lovely to hear your voice, enjoy your talents and thank you for sharing your friend’s home setting for this video. I live in middle America and it is so very far away from France. But I always feel so much closer when I read your blog, view your pictures and check out your brocante. Thank you for sharing. Wishing you and yours a Very Happy New Year!
Oh Sharon thankyou, I look forward to many many more. Suzana x
A delightful post-Christmas gift, Sharon. Your voice is lovely with that plummy English accent. The table is elegant and oh, so pretty. What a marvelous location for your first video. Looking forward to more of them!
Bonne Année!
Wonderful, Sharon! I have been enjoying your book immensely, and always see something new whenever I pick it up. I love that you are bringing your ideas to life for us with videos, and I am happily anticipating the year to come. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Simple and elegant as always. Thank you and I look forward to future videos of the French lifestyle. Happy New Year to you!
I enjoyed the video immensely and look forward to more during the new year! I learned something new today because I was curious why the forks were tines down and engraved on the back and Googled it. Our tradition for the holidays has always been to have all the food platters on the table so I’m never able to do an arrangement of this sort and always have to use an arrangement in low containers. After this year’s celebration with 16 people I’ve decided that if I host the Christmas dinner next year I will be using our buffets to serve the food so I will be able to use a garland. Many thanks to your generous friend Frédérique for sharing her home with us. Bonne année to you and your family Sharon!
Thank you. Looking forward to more videos. Love. Victoria
Absolutely wonderful Sharon and it was so lovely to hear your voice.
Happy New Year !
MaryD
Just beautiful Sharon! You have added another dimension to your already wonderful blog. I love reading ‘My French Country Home’ and so enjoyed visiting and staying in your gorgeous guest cottage this year. Hopefully we can return again one day. Happy New Year and I look forward to spending 2016 reading your inspiring posts from Normandy.
Annie M
Beautiful. What a nice surprise this video is
Sharon what a beautiful surprise! I am really looking forward to more of these wonderful video. What a lovely voice you have. Pat
Your video is a lovely glimpse of French life. I love the
elegance you have created using simple natural materials. Beautiful
music and photography and your accompanying gentle voice made this a splendid venture. I look forward to your blog and this is such a wonderful addition…Happy New Year from snowy Minnesota, USA
Beautiful table setting.. First time I have also seen forks turned that way .. Look forward to your video’s. Happy New Year…
What a lovely gift and I am looking forward to 2016. I like the plate colors and I like that the flower arrangement was low. I am uncomfortable having to look over a centerpiece to have a conversation. Your girlfriends are lucky to have you as their girlfriend. Happy Holiday.
Thank you for this lovely gift! Happy New Year! xox
Very nice Sharon ,Happy New Year to you and family .You are such a talented lady.Elvie.
Wonderful! Loved the setting and the presentation was so well done- from filming, lighting and voiceover to the lovely background music. Can’t wait for them all! HNY!
Fabulous – what a fun treat for your readers ! I enjoyed this video thoroughly and look forward to your future efforts. Your voice is just perfect for narration and you do a lovely job !! Happy New Year ~
Happy New Year to you and your family.
I love the video idea and am looking forward to watching more.
Thank you Lynne
Sharon
I loved the video , and I cannot wait for others to follow! What a great idea. Thank you!
Oh well done you! What a great idea. When you said you were making some changes to the blog you really meant it. Thanks for this delightful post today, and Happy New Year for 2016, let’s hope it is a spectacular year for all of us!!!
This was just beautiful and I shall so look forward to more lovely videos. Your narration was just wonderful.
Absolutely loved your video and like many others loved hearing your voice.
A query, where will I find the part of the story you wrote a couple of weeks ago, I meant to read it later and now can’t find it. when is the next instalment?
So very beautiful. Thank you for sharing!
Merci!!! Beautifully done! Looking forward to more videos.
No sound in the video?
Absolutely Gorgeous, love the simple but very elegant and colorful table!! It’s going to be exciting to see what you’ll be sharing in the next year, Thank You!
Happy 2016 to you and your Family!!
Lovely, as always. What struck me about this video, besides the basic “eye candy,” was your voice. I’ve been following your blog for a bit under a year, and some how missed the fact that your British! For all that’s wacked about this modern world, I love the fact that technology allows this American girl to watch a British lady set (excuse me- lay) a Christmas table in a centuries old French chateau! Thanks! Happy New Year from New England.
Thanks Sharon for such a lovely gift,your video,how beautiful,can”t wait for the next one.Happy New Year to you and your lovely girlfriends.
Sharon, thank you ever so much for sharing this beautiful video. The table setting has inspired me to be more creative with my own table decor, and I love hearing your voice. Much more personal than seeing photos alone.
Thank you for sharing your life with us, and a very Happy New Year to you and your family.
Linda in Washington state
Oh my! Your voice is so, so lovely. It was a real surprise to hear you speak after just reading your words for the last year or so. I have had to replay the video three times now, just to hear you again and again. And yes, the Christmas table is as lovely as your voice. I wish you a very happy new year, with thanks.
Love the video. Makes me want to have another dinner party. You set a great mood. Thank-you for a wonderful year. Great posts, short stories and recipes. I have enjoyed all of them as well as your book. Looking forward to another wonderful year. Happy New Year
Sharon – what a wonderful idea and such a joy to watch. So looking forward to seeing many more this upcoming year. Love your blog and hope sometime soon to stay with you and do some shopping for my clients. Wishing you a wonderful 2016 and continued success.
Love this and so excited that it will be a new feature. The dining room and table looks so welcoming and cozy.
Happy New Year.
What a nice surprise to see a video and to know that there will be more! Well done! Love your blog. Happy New Year!
I’ve just arrived home from Christmas holiday and what a treat to view your video! It puts ideas into my mind about decorating AND traveling to France. Thank you for your inspiration!
What a lovely video, Sharon. Thank you for sharing it with us. Your voice is enchanting!
Thanks for the lovely video. I love reading and looking at all your beautiful pictures and blogs . Hope to travel to France from Australia in 2017. Can’t wait to travel around and see all the gorgeous places and markets and also go hunting for treasures . Happy New Year ☺
Sharon, what an absolute treat this video was. I Love French living and all its inspirations. Merci for giving us a wonderful glimpse into your world! By the way, I love your soft British accent! All this makes me smile.
Enjoyed the video, love the idea of the video clips. I appreciate the labor of love that goes into your blog and all the French things you show us through it. Happy New Year!
Lovely !
Love it, what a beautiful chateau/home. I love your blog and can’t wait to see the other videos to come.
Just gorgeous, and so inspiring! I love the tip of using stemmed liqueur glasses for buds.
Sharon, you are absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for this tutorial. Holiday table decor is something that I love to do for my family. I hope that you and you family find health and happiness in 2016.
Sharon Nicholes
Merci!!
Sharon: Lovely end to 2015 on your blog! You inspire me get up and do something beautiful around my home. The results create beauty and energy in my life. Might be fun for your readers to send photos of what they create as a result of your inspiration and then post some of the ones you choose in your blog? Non?
So beautifully done Sharon, thank you so much, a lovely gift indeed!!
Wishing you all the best in 2016!!
xoxo
Karena
The Arts by Karena
Happy New Year Wishes!
Oh so beautiful! I love the video and can’t wait for more. I bought your fabulous “Girlfriends” book for my fabulous girlfriends as Christmas gifts. We are in SoCal as far away from Northern France as we could possibly be. But my grandparents were from Pas de Calais so I have always enjoyed that part of my heritage. Bonnie Annee, Sharon.
What a marvelous gift for all of us! Merci! And this table is just heavenly. I’m looking forward to more videos.
Wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2016 —
xo
I so enjoy the variety of you blog and looking forward to your videos. Wishing you a Happy New Year. Did I miss your new chapter to your Christmas story? I read the 3 parts from last year and one this year. Was there only one? Or did I miss something? Jill
What lovely idea, I enjoyed hearing you voice. Always loved a tablecloth that draped onto the floor!
Congratulations Sharon,beautiful.
Loved the video and can’t wait for more.
Happy New Year to you and your family from yet another English women living here in France.
Dear Sharon, thank you for sharing your delightful video with us. The table decorations are gorgeous and the setting is wonderful. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos.
Happy New Year from New Zealand.
Happy New Year to you and your family. Thanks so much for the video, looking forward to more.
Sharon, I just love this video!! It adds such an interesting dimension to what your blog has offered until now. How wonderful to hear your lovely voice complementing your beautiful visuals. I myself have been so intimidated by video, although I keep hearing more and more how bloggers need to jump on the bandwagon. I’ve been reluctant, unsure of how to utilize it in my own way with my unique perspective, but you show a lovely way to accomplish just that which works perfectly with your style. Given that my blog was first conceived to showcase my table settings, this particularly interested me. Thank you for the inspiration, both with respect to the video content and the video concept. Well done!!
Love it! Can’t wait for more.
Happy New Year. Thank you for sharing this lovely setting and your exquisite skills on table dressing. Beautiful.
Happy New Year Sharon, thank you so much for your beautiful video loved it. Have been reading your book this week and am enjoying it so muc. It is inspiring and beautiful. Writing to you from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Loved your table setting the simplicity is quite elegant. Here in Melbourne, Australia it is quite hot at Christmas, table setting can be quite different. Your ideas would be perfect for Christmas in July which many of us use as a reason to have a family or friends celebration.
I loved watching the video and am questioning the turning down of the two forks. I have never seen this done. It this a European thing?
I don’t see that Sharon answers any questions in the comment section. Lots of folks have asked about setting the table with the tines faced down. This is the French style of setting a table and I do not believe it is European. Proper French homes set there tables like this although I would guess some younger French people don’t. It is def the French way.
I see that the spoon is not turned face down but rather facing up. My French mother always set her table with forks and spoons facing down.
You will also notice that the back side of the silver is as ornamental as the front side. French cutlery is decorative on both sides for this reason.
Sorry Sharon don’t mean to step on your blog 🙂
Thank you Linda, I answered about the forks on the 2 January, but there are a lot of comments so you may not have spotted that
Sharon
No I didn’t Sharon. Sorry I missed it.
I actually was curious about the spoon not being turned down as the forks were. This fall we were in the Loire Valley touring chateaux. There was one chateau that had a set dining room table. Some English people were talking about the curiosity of setting the table a la francaise. But at the chateau the spoons were all turned down as well. LOL I though, well, c’est normal!
I hope I didn’t step on any toes. Your blog is beautiful. I am getting so much inspiration from it.
Enjoyed the video and inspiration. So lovely to see the french lifestyle thru a video. Thank you and look forward to more. Happy New Year and continued success.
P.S. Will you be having any tours to Provence in 2016?
HI Sheila, so glad you like the video, and yes I have a very special tour in Provence planned for next September, I shall email you today
best
Sharon
I signed up for a subscription for my wife in 2020 as a x-mas gift. She has not received it yet, please advise. Her email is gleiler@yahoo.com. I put the wrong e=mail for her when I ordered and paid. The order #371`33. Thank you so much.