Holiday Traditions in the Dining Room

Holidays fill the entire home with warmth and love. The living room, where you play charades or watch the morning parade; the kitchen, where feast preparations begin hours before guests arrive; even the front yard, where you might play a game of flag football or engage in a snowball fight. But for the Chilton Furniture team, the most impactful family holiday traditions are made in the dining room. Read about our fondest memories and favorite traditions around the dining table below. 

For Thanksgiving, we would all gather together at the dining room table and enjoy all of the wonderful fixings, however, the real treat was when everyone wrapped up their meal and my mother would present all of her delicious pies in the center. Everyone would take a slice and we would begin our night of board games! - Mikayla, Sales Associate

Every year we carve pumpkins on the table (obviously placing down a tablecloth and some extra coverage where the pumpkin goes). But we always have a large bowl in the center for the seeds and a trash can on each side of the table for the guts. Once we are done, we put in the candles, light them up and turn the lights off in the whole house to see them all lit up on the table, with the smell of the seeds in the oven- you can't beat it! - Zac, Showroom Manager

Holidays are a special time for getting together with family and friends. Somehow during that time when we are together we always seem to end up in the same room - the dining room at the table. I have flashbacks of a table full of delicious food (especially lots of pies), of writing holiday cards, wrapping presents, playing games - boy did we love to play the card game scat growing up - and best of all just relaxing and catching up with everyone.  - Pam, Accounting & Sales Associate 

My dad bought my family's kitchen table from Chilton Furniture in the ‘80s. Now that my sisters and I have moved out of our parent's house, the one time we all get together is at the table during the holidays. It has become a staple of their house and of our time together there. - Alexandra, Sales Associate

With cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents included, I have a fairly large family. To fit enough seats for everyone at Christmas, my family always had a “kids” table (a folding table with a tablecloth) separate from the adult table. It was fun bonding time with my siblings and cousins, and I’m sure we got away with some rowdy activities that my parents couldn’t see from the adult table. - Liesel, Sales and Marketing Associate

We have two notable traditions in my family. When we were kids, my cousins and I were too young to partake in the dinner wine, but we didn't want to be left out. One year my aunt brought sparkling apple cider for us kids to have, while the adults drank their wine. It became a yearly tradition, and even though we are all old enough to drink the wine now, we always have a bottle or two of the sparkling cider as well.

I'm not even sure how the second tradition came to be, but I know it was started by my grandmother, and it's been a part of our Christmas day routine for as long as I can remember. Every Christmas morning, with our normal Christmas breakfast, we have hamburgers. No bun, no toppings, just plain hamburgers on a plate. It's become such an ingrained tradition that even on the years we spent Christmas day apart, the family group text is filled with photos of our breakfast hamburgers. It's easily the oddest Christmas tradition that I've heard of, but we love it. - Eleanor, Sales Associate and Head of Service

My friends and I have a fun tradition around a table of sorts. The weekend before Thanksgiving we meet up at Foxwoods Casino. It started back in 2001 with 6 people and today there are 33 of us. We each have $1000 to play with, and at noon on Sunday we use the honor system to tally up the winner. The winner gets an additional one week's check from everyone playing. I don't think I have to explain how fun that is! - John, Delivery Driver and Warehouse Associate

For Thanksgiving, we always make Three Sisters Vegetables, a recipe we got a decade ago from The Boston Globe. It consists of zucchini, corn and green beans, three major agricultural crops of various Indigenous American peoples. The Globe article pointed out “if it grows together, it goes together.” - Jen, Co-Owner

Happy holidays to everyone! We hope you enjoy making cherished memories around your dining table just as we do. You can view Chilton Furniture’s dining collection here, and, as always, our team is happy to answer any questions. Visit one of our three Maine showrooms or chat with a team member on our website.