come & go, but bring cookies
We held a little get together at our house over the weekend…a simple ‘come and go’ where everyone brought a plate of cookies to share. I joke that is was all a big ploy for me to get cookies delivered to my house. It worked.
My 6 year old daughter was helping me decorate. She commented, “Mom, this looks like someone’s birthday party.” I smiled and reminded her that we were in fact celebrating the birth of Jesus. Her eyes got big and she grinned so wide.
Instead of using dessert plates for the cookies, we used snack trays. They worked perfectly…no cookies sliding off plates. They were also handy for filling up before guests headed home.
The balloons, cups, napkins, snack trays and pink fringe garland were from Shop Sweet Lulu. Everything else was hodge podge stuff I had on hand. For centerpieces, the girls and I hot glued trees and deer to trays. We cut greenery from the yard and $5 trees from Lowes to put in canisters.
I tried putting more deer on the doilies, but they wouldn’t stay standing up. To get them to stand, I hot glued them to the bottoms of little fruit crates.
Hot chocolate. Apple cider. Chris served lattes. From here on out, I’ll be keeping our marshmallows in that jug. It worked so well for kids to pour into their hot chocolate without it dumping tons. It is not vintage…I got it at a local grocery store (Reasors) and kept it after we drank the milk.
To label a few items, I used pink twist ties and scrap paper. The scrap paper is actually the bottoms of sample cards I used in a DIY post for Mpix 🙂
Of course I loved all my guests, but this little guy might be on the top of my list. He came in a bowtie. Oh sweet nephew I need you to come over more often!
My 9 year old is always ‘throwing the deuces’ for pictures. I guess it is a thing among the young crowd.
And then they tried to teach their cousin the pose too…
It was good day. Before everyone arrived, I gathered my crew and we talked about what a huge gift it is to be able to gather people in our home. We talked about how it isn’t the food or the decorations or the size of our house or even how clean it is that people will really remember when they leave. What most people remember when they leave a home is how that home made them feel. We certainly don’t do it all perfectly, but I hope even in our messy attempts at hospitality we are moving towards making others leave happier than when they came. Its a goal I’ll keep working towards.
Balloons, cups, napkins, snack trays, pink garland, tassel garland ~ Shop Sweet Lulu
Peg people nativity – Once Upon A Peg
Hand drawn wooden nativity – Minnie and the Monster
