During the holidays, we tend to gather around the table when visiting family and friends. Too often, though, decor is relegated to hanging on the walls. From formal meals at antique dinner tables to dessert options displayed on distressed side tables, the options provided by wooden benches, boards and bars are many and give you unlimited opportunities to wow your guests.

We visited MAK & CO., in Andover to find ways to combine holiday sweets with decor and create unique focal points for gatherings. The styles shown here aren’t just for winter — you can use similar combinations yearlong. Just don’t eat the ornaments by mistake!

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It was 2 a.m. on a fall morning in 2013 and Melissa DiMinico couldn’t sleep. She had been wrestling for quite some time with the question: What makes us different? Ignoring the late hour, DiMinico sent a text to her new business partner, chocolatier Shauna Semenza, looking for an answer. A flurry of texts and more than a few test batches later, The Candy Dish’s chocolate lobster was born. The Candy Dish is a North Andover-based party favor and corporate gift company that specializes in hand-dipped, binder-, filler- and gluten-free artisan chocolates. The company’s signature sweet reimagines the classic candy turtle, or terrapin, as a lobster. It’s made with your choice of cashew, macadamia nut or pecan claws, a rich dark, silky milk, or creamy white chocolate body, and a zigzagging drizzle “shell.”

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