So bring us some figgy pudding....

First, my Six Word Saturday links have brought in new readers and new comments.  YAY!  And HI new readers!!

Ok, with that out of the way.... onto the party post!

Saturday we had TWO (count 'em, one, TWO) Christmas parties at our house.
The first was an open house for our church friends and family from 2-5, and the second was a small dinner/hang out party with our playdate friends.

For the parties I baked grinch cookies (mint chocolate chip), fudge, shortbread cookies (in the shapes of the different people/animals that you see in a nativity scene), spritz cookies (that only the Christmas trees came out looking right), and rice krispie ornaments (rk treats shaped in a ball, with a small candy cane stuck in them and then dipped in almond bark).

We had WAY too many goodies (as always), but my house was spotlessly clean by 2:00 on Saturday.  That is the good thing about people coming over - the entire house gets cleaned in one day, instead of just cleaning it one room a day and always having a mess.

While the treats were good, the thing I'm most proud of is this:

We moved our dining room table in front of the window, buffet style, and above it, hung snowflakes that I made with the Curly Kids.  They painted with glitter paint on construction paper, and then I cut the shapes out.  It looks especially cute when you can see that the decor on the table is a sign I made at my LIFT group that says 'Let it Snow' and my salt and pepper shakers are snow men.

This may be no big deal to others, but to me, it was a huge.  I saw a commerical where they had hung Christmas ornaments from the ceiling over a table in the shape of a Christmas tree.  With climbing kids and a cat and no budget for matching Christmas ornaments, I knew I wouldn't be able to do that.  But I wanted a centerpiece feel without losing the table space.  Enter - creativity!  A nice snowflake centerpiece, no table space lost.

Yes, yes I am extremely proud - and love the look so much I think we'll have to do it year after year.  I'm even thinking of doing it for other seasons.... leaves in the fall, flowers in the spring.... Butterflies in the summer?  I don't know, I'll find something!