As the holidays approach, we love adding warmth and spirit to all the festivities. Whether you’re hosting a big party, or just having a quiet family dinner, these collections are a perfect way to unite your loved ones around the table.

For more Holiday collections, click here.

Are the holidays The Most Wonderful Time of the Year for you?  Can you not get enough Ho Ho Ho, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, and Santa Claus?  Or do you want to just chuck it all and head to the tropics — somewhere warm, lush, and sunny, where the sun-bronzed locals don’t see the attraction of a big plump old guy with a big white beard?

Either way, we (and our friends at Vietri) have got you covered.  You can really show off your Holiday spirit with Old St. Nick:

Or you can serve up a not-too-subtle “I Want to be Out of Here!” to all comers at your next holiday party with the Fish-Fish dinnerware:

Click to see Old St. Nick, Fish-Fish, and all our other Vietri dinnerware.

Tell us: Where would you rather be this Holiday season — The North Pole with Santa Claus, or the Tropics with someone who looks nothing like him?

We at Gracious Style love to keep up on great style blogs, and Marisa Marcantonio’s Stylebeat is no exception. In fact, we’ve decided to become a sponsor, and the former style editor for House Beautiful and O Magazine recently returned the love in a holiday-themed post featuring some of her favorite items from our shop.

She chose a palette of greens and browns with metallic accents to enhance this season’s holiday tables.

For more on lifestyle and design, visit Stylebeat’s treasure trove of ideas here.

Creating a picture-perfect Thanksgiving table can seem daunting with so many choices available. Luckily, the editors of Coast Magazine have done the hard work for you! They’ve curated an excellent Thanksgiving selection in their new blog, Creating a Thanksgiving Tablecsape, featuring several items from Gracious Style’s catalog.

They’ve included some of our beautiful tableware in seasonal hues of gold:

We’re just thrilled to be included in Coast Magazine’s feature! To read more about West Coast style, visit their site here.

With Thanksgiving just days away, it’s time to pay homage to our collective love of all things fowl:

Vietri’s Campagna Gallina (literally, “country of the hen”) showcases our hero in a rustic, Tuscan country way.

Mottahedeh’s Chelsea Bird Dinnerware is inspired by designs from Colonial Williamsburg.

Gien’s Sologne dinnerware was created by French animal artist Estelle Rebottaro to capture the wildlife of the Sologne region in north-central France.

Alberto Pinto’s Plumes Rooster features six hand painted roosters on gold gilded Limoges porcelain.  These chickens also teach a morality tale–plan ahead!  They take twelve weeks to deliver, so start thinking about next year’s Thanksgiving on Bastille Day.

Finally, to go along with the dishes, there’s L’Objet’s Bird Napkin Rings, available in gold or platinum:

Here are special picks for a happy Thanksgiving.

Classico is one of our best-selling collections, so we asked our friends at Sferra to tell us what makes it so special.  Here is what they said:

Classico is our very finest Italian-woven linen. Each piece is finished with a border of delicate, refined, hand-drawn hemstitching – from the 120” seamless round tablecloths, to the 15” octagonal placemats, to the 6” round doilies! Classico’s enduring pure linen fibers only become softer and more lustrous with each laundering. Heirloom linens such as these are always a worthwhile investment, because they will last for generations.

Classico is the quintessential collection for formal dining, as etiquette dictates setting fine — but simple — linens. Colors and patterns are meant for less formal occasions, so for those who like to adhere to tradition, Classico is a true hero. With that in mind, Classico is stocked in the most expansive selection of shapes and sizes to accommodate all occasions — including the extra-long 160” and extra-wide 88” tablecloths.

Available in Ecru or White, below is a full listing of the Classico line of table linens:
– Square Tablecloths: 54″ square, 70″ square, 90″ square
– Round Tablecloths: 70″ round, 90″ round, 106″ round, 120″ round
– Rectangular Tablecloths: 66″ x 86″, 66″ x 106″, 66″ x 124″, 66″ x 140″, 66″ x 160″, 88″ x 106″, 88″ x 124″, 88″ x 140″, 88″ x 160″
– Runners: 15″ x 70″, 15″ x 90″, 15” x108″
– Napkins: 6″ doilies, 6” x 6″ cocktail, 6″ x 9″ cocktail, 13” x 13″ tea, 20″ x 20″ dinner, 22″ x 22″ dinner, 24″ x 24″ dinner, 27″ x 27″ buffet
– Placemats: 15″ octagonal, 13″ x 19″ rect, 13″ x 19″ oval, 15″ round
– Guest/Fingertip Towels: 14″ x 20″

To see our entire collection of Sferra linens, please click here.

We know how quickly time flies when you’re getting ready for the holidays, so if you still haven’t ordered your linens for the holidays, all these collections are in stock and ready to ship right away.

To see all our table linen collections, click here.

Thanksgiving is just three weeks away, but you can rest easy: we have lots of tips to keep it simple for you.

1) Add sparkle to your entryway.

2) Place orders from your favorite gourmet store. Don’t forget a Willie Bird smoked turkey from Williams-Sonoma: they arrive fully cooked and are truly spectacular!

3) Dress up your kitchen with new kitchen towels.

4) Keep the kids’ table simple with easy-to-clean placemats.

5) Save time with no-iron tablecloths.

6) Set your table with colorful dinnerware.

7) Make sure to have plenty of flatware on hand.

8) Use your best crystal.

9) Pretend you made everything from scratch (just kidding!).

10) Enjoy yourself!!!

To visit our Thanksgiving shop, click here.

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Do you have any tips you can share with us to make Thanksgiving easy?

If you’re like us and you entertain a lot, you’re probably always looking for sophisticated yet sturdy pieces.  We have the perfect solution for you.

Based in Connecticut, David and Capucine Gooding’s Juliska makes the perfect everyday tabletop collections. They’re fresh, classic, super durable, and available in a great range of colors. From breakfast to dinner, these are the pieces you’ll be reaching for again and again.

When they first started the company back in 2001, David and Capucine worked with artisans outside Prague to create glassware that was mouth-blown and dishwasher safe. Called Amalia, each piece was beribboned with a delicate spiral, and it was an instant hit.

Then they introduced companion dinnerware collections. Casually elegant, Berry and Thread dinnerware featured exquisite transparent glazes on tough, restaurant-grade Portuguese stoneware, so they were freezer, oven (up to 500F), microwave, and dishwasher safe. Plus, they are highly resistant to chipping.

Then they added color, and made sure all the pieces could be mixed and matched …

In collaboration with Deborah Sears, a designer with Isis Ceramics in England, Country Estate was inspired by the manor where David and Capucine were married.

In Italy, the Goodings were fascinated by more fanciful patterns like the flourish of Italian marbles. This resulted in the Firenze collection, which shimmers beautifully at night.

Finally, they added linens and napkin rings to make table setting a breeze.

From the country to the city, Juliska tableware goes well with everything you own.  To see the entire Juliska collection (including lighting), click here.

Emphasizing floral shapes and patterns, flower magazine loves to introduce new ways to bring flowers to life.  Their Fall 2013 issue, which features interior designers Thomas Jayne and Prince of Chintz Mario Buatta, is full of beautiful and sophisticated interiors.

For a fall table, they’ve picked Moser’s Lady Hamilton Gilded Hock Set, which adds a beautiful silhouette and a burst of color to your tabletop.

Pair these hocks with the pieces below, and you’ll instantly transform your dining room.

Thanks a bunch, flower!  We always look forward to getting every new issue that arrives in our mailbox.  To read more about flower magazine, click here.