Would you rent guests for Christmas dinner? Well, maybe a beer guzzling brother-in-law comes to mind for whom a replacement would be considered. But mostly the festive season is about feasting before fasting, and rubbing elbows with those who are related rather than rented.

If goodwill and good company sets the tone for formal Christmas dining, fine linen sets the table. Paper weight doesn't come close to genuine and you returning rented linen washes away memories. When you look back, years down the road, through albums (or jpegs!), the faces around the table grow older, somehow more familiar and unfamiliar with age. You don't rent stuff like this, you buy right into it. And that includes the table linen.

Dressing up the dining table is ritualistic, almost like adorning an alter precedes a ceremony. With the smell of ham or turkey baking, the clink of ice in glasses and the familiarity of well-known faces, everyone feels at home.

Over food, we mull over the past year. We share those victories that were so hard won, the setbacks that snuck in out of nowhere. There is a profound intimacy underlying it all. We mark our good times, and our bad, with meals. Special occasions are made special by dressing up for them and the table is the center of attention.

Table linen is a family heirloom, an investment in the memories of those who rested their elbows on it. The best of table linen comes by its elegance as a result of being woven by hand in Italy from extra-long staple cotton. The rich soil of the Nile delta provides the perfect source for this fiber. The quality of the fiber is related to the length of the strands. For linens to last generations requires it to be of very fine quality.

Basics are beautiful. White and ivory are always stalwarts for any dining table. Against the plate it looks great. But any solid color will be suitable. Candlelight plays on the weave of napkins as well as the cutlery. Crisp white or deep rich colors can enhance modern or traditional settings.

We collectively put on enough weight during Christmas to keep the weight loss industry going through the spring. Tis the season to be dining. But New Year's Eve resolutions, religious rituals, even the Second Coming, all take a back burner to the Second Helping when good friends and family gather around the dinner table.