[this & that]

This is one reason I’ve been so busy lately. My dear Jay volunteered the men to do the Christmas decorations for our ward’s Christmas party which of course means that I needed to come up with ideas and supervise the whole production (Jay knew I wouldn't mind the challenge). The budget wasn’t huge so I had to come up with something that could be made relatively cheaply and would make a big impact.

I must admit that I truly enjoyed making these huge paper wheels with the men. Just listening to them talk about cars, James Bond movies and their jobs was interesting. J

One of the loveliest evenings this December was when Jay and I taped some of these wheels together and Sienna drew a Rudolph picture. All while listening to beautiful Christmas music. It really is the simple family moments in life that give you the most joy!

We made about 50 of these paper wheels out of Christmas wrapping paper from Costco (a nice thick roll for only $12, can’t beat that!). We hung most of them from the ceiling plus put some on the walls.

We also put evergreen branches in silver Christmas gift bags and hung tiny silver Christmas balls on them. And since you can’t light candles in our Church (not because we’re weird, just because of insurance reasons J), I bought tons of battery operated white tealights (from Costco as well).

I also lucked out by finding silver & white snowflake dinner napkins that matched everything perfectly. All in all, I was happy with the decorations. Simple, shimmery, elegant.

There you have it – my first big decorating effort. I’ve done things in smaller scale before but never for 200 people.

I printed Sienna’s Rudolph picture on light beige card-stock = Christmas cards for her teachers.

Sienna made this cool paper-mache bird mask at school.

My favorite Elf on the Shelf idea so far.

Made some photo gifts again this year. Every year, Sienna gets a silver photo ornament. I think it’ll be a great keepsake for her as she grows up. The picture of Sienna laughing while wading in a lake near Banff is my this year's favorite. Love it when I catch a real smile.

I used the snowman wrapping idea last year to wrap chocolate boxes. I found the idea from Pinterest.

These gum packages were gifts for my Activity Days girls (I’m in charge of doing bi-weekly activities for girls aged 8 – 11 years old). Great stocking stuffer idea! You just need black and orange permanent markers and little bit of yarn or material.