During the Christmas season, holiday tableware will adorn the table at Ruth and Thomas Brouster’s home in Ladue as they host holiday events for their family.

“I have dishes and glasses for every holiday and every occasion. I love setting them out and using them,” Ruth says. “We always have a lot of family over at Christmastime, and Tom says, ‘Why not use paper plates,’ and I say, ‘No, I have holiday dishes. I’m using them.’”

They enjoy hosting family get-togethers during the holiday season, including having a celebration for the many December birthdays in the family. The couple has three children, all of whom live in the St. Louis area, plus seven grandchildren. In addition, their extended family is large, with Ruth being one of eight siblings. On Christmas Day they often host as many as 65 people, Ruth says.

Last year their house, which they’ve lived in since 2021, was featured on the Deck the Halls of Glennon Homes holiday house tour. “We were pleased to do an event for such a good cause. It worked out well,” Tom says. “Ruth gets a tremendous amount of satisfaction from decorating, and she’s good at it.”

Ruth decorates for every holiday throughout the year. “I love a project, and decorating is a project. It’s something that I love to do,” she says.

For Christmas, they fill every room with holiday cheer. Ruth puts holiday-themed bedding in all of the bedrooms and decorates the bathrooms with holiday towels and decorations.

They put up trees in several rooms of the house. Tom says his favorite holiday decoration is the “family tree,” which graces the hearth room. For the family tree, they choose a real tree on which to put their keepsake family ornaments.

“Through the years, from the time I was a child even, we had the ornaments on a real tree,” he says. “Our children and grandchildren have seen a tree every year with the various ornaments we’ve collected over the years. Some were handmade by the kids when they were younger.”

They also set up a formal tree in the entry hallway, Ruth says. A collection of crystal ornaments, including reindeer, bells and angels—many of which are Waterford—shimmer and twinkle from its branches. It also has a beautiful angel on top, which was in Tom’s family.

They trim the outside of the home with lights, decorate the porch and flank the front doors with Christmas trees. In the lower level, they decorate a tree with all Radko ornaments. “I like those. I’ve been collecting those for a long time,” Ruth says. In the pool house, they decorate every room, including placing over the fireplace a picture of Santa Claus and his sleigh of reindeer flying off into the moonlight.

“The decorations enhance the family gathering and the celebration of Christmas,” Tom says. “It gives you a warm Christmas feeling when you walk in. It lifts people’s spirits about celebrating the holiday.”