the basket

In the last five years I have eaten a lot, and I mean a lot of luke-warm and even {sigh} cold meals.  For approximately five years and two months, I have cast the cold-meal-blame entirely on the fact that I have children. Whether nursing a baby or playing a perpetual game of jack-in-the-box to "Mama, may I have a napkin? Can someone pass the salt? Wait, there isn't any salt? Is there any butter for the bread? Oh, mama, aren't we going to read while we eat?" there has always been something that has kept me from enjoying my seat.  One might think that after 5 years I would have done something to remedy this problem but it was just much simpler to complain. And cast blame.
 
Simultaneously occurring over the past five years, was my indecision over a center piece. To have or not to have? Practical or aesthetically pleasing?  I've tried all sorts of things from fruit bowls to candles.  Most of them are short lived because in all honesty, I love an uncluttered, clean table.

Last month I saw a photo of a napkin basket that a family keeps on a hutch near their table.  We don't have any space for additional furniture around our table so I almost didn't think twice about the basket. Suddenly a wave of genius washed over me. Moments of genius are fleeting these days so I captured and executed quickly.

I call it the basket of all things. But now that I look at the photo, it should be called the tray of all things.

Sorry for my out-of-focus photo. I haven't blogged in months primarily because I started this post and never finished it because this photo was out of focus and I intended to retake the picture. Seriously? Yes. Seriously.

On this tray that I love but was not getting enough use, you'll find most of the things that keep me hopping during a meal: salt & pepper, a butter dish, napkins, trivets, whatever book we are reading during meals, (right now it is the Gospel story Bible which we highly, highly recommend!), my own Bible, some flashcards, a camera, and a spatula. I snagged and emptied a basket from our office that held miscellaneous to-be-filed papers and added it to the tray to contain most of the random items.  I finished the presentation with a little candle for now, but this summer, it may be a small vase of flowers. 

While I still have to occasionally pop up for this or that, it certainly isn't as frequent and most days, my food is warm when I eat it. And, because everything is completely contained on the tray, which I set on a place mat, it can all be removed from our table at one fell swoop.

So there you have it. Simple, useful, practical and sort of, pretty.  All in all, perfect for us.