HOw To FUTURE OUTDOOR DINING AREA

As many of you who have followed the blog know, we have this awesome, old, Mesquite tree, that we've called the "party tree".  2nd Family has a similar tree and it becomes the gathering place at parties, you know, just like the kitchen in your house becomes the gathering place.  So they started calling it the party tree and now we do the same (even though we haven't had a party yet).

Recently, we got the area around it all cleared out so we could see what we have to work with later this Spring...

Here is the area looking from the front porch.  You can see the spot back under there where we would like to make a dining area.  There is also room for a lot more to happen "around" the tree, now that we have it cleared, my mind races at the thought of possibilities.  Maybe we should call it the dining tree?

Here, I am standing in the spot where we'd like to put an outdoor dining table (as indicated in red by my lifelike graphics skills).  This is looking toward the back area behind the tree and the property behind ours.  As you can see, we I still have more stuff to clear out back there, including small trees and vines and other things popping up.  You can also see that grass doesn't grow, because it's pretty much shaded all the time.  Does anyone have an idea for a good ground cover that would work like a "carpet" under the table?  Something to walk on, that would hold up to foot traffic but not get too tall?

Here is the view in the same spot, looking back toward the house.(see, the table is still there, beautiful huh?)   I wish I could have a picture of how nice it is underneath there.  It's shaded, and cool, and tall, and very peaceful underneath the branches.  There are none that are too low, it's just perfect for walking around.  There are even a couple of branches that would be perfect for holding a light fixture of some sort.  Candles?  Lanterns?  Electric lights?

Planning is half the fun!

So any suggestions for plants?  Table/chair ideas?  Other things?