I've some more Homesense loveliness today, and I make no apology for that. Since their store opened in Greenwich earlier in the year, I'm a confirmed fan. So when they asked me to put together some of their festive tableware, well, who was I to refuse?

The thing is about tableware is that at Christmas there never seems to be enough, does there?

With a houseful of guests arriving Christmas Eve I'm as keen as ever to avoid multiple bouts of washing up in between meals, just so there's enough plates. While plates are pretty important, so is spending time with friends and family without donning your marigolds!

And it’s usually supper that we run out of plates for - but not this year!

Festive tableware this Christmas from Homesense

For us supper - a meal we probably only ever eat at Christmas - is one of those meals that is made up of food leftover from lunch, think pigs in blankets, cold stuffing and a turkey sandwich. Or from the cheeseboard, with some salad added for balance - sometimes we even eat it too!

Mince pies on a Noel side plate from Homesense

But it always ends with a mince pie, or maybe a first slice of Christmas cake, along with a small glass of something sweet - this year after our trip to Porto, it could be port, or maybe the Marsala that’s already open.

And this year we’ll be using these festive plates for that. I’m hoping that they’ll have their second outing of the day, having first been used for smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels at breakfast. No washing up needed either as they’ll be in the dishwasher with everything we use at lunch.

snowflake plates on an enamel tray from Homesense

They’re stylish aren’t they? As usual and spoilt for choice, I opted for two designs - a snowflake patterned plate hailing from Portugal and a boldly decorated Noel plate, in a 4:2 split.

The tray, which is just gorgeous, had a ‘Vietnam’ label on and I spent more time than was probably necessary deciding on which size. There’s three and I opted for the middle size, but would have happily taken all of them!

Sparkly coasters from Homesense add a touch of glitz to any table

the coasters were the final addition to my basket, and while they look pretty and sparkly- what I’m really looking forward to is a lack of marks on our glass table. Not that I’m planning on spilling any drinks...