Christmas Decor 2020

It's no secret I love setting up for Christmas. We like to do so in November, I've decided solidly now, that the weekend after Vale's birthday will be the go-to time. I have tried in the past to leave it much closer to/right after Thanksgiving, but I feel like we are too rushed and unprepared for our advent traditions to start on time. The past few years it's worked nicely to slow roll every thing out mid November. There is no pressure to finish it all in a day, and that works best for me so I feel rested and not hurried into the season of celebration.

The angel on the top shelf is affectionately known as the "Headless Angel", Brooks' gift to me from the Awana Christmas store in 2013. "Here, I got you this, but the head fell off" Thankfully it's made of a resin, not glass, and I was able to reattach the severed head😂

The letterboard sign is just one of many "signs" or pictures that I like to decorate with, because I feel like it properly orients my heart for the meaning of it all - Can you imagine the weight of glory, holding a newborn baby boy - the King of Creation?

I made the canvas sign - A double meaning for me, but the lyric to a song, Noel by Lauren Daigle. All who are weary and worn, Come and see what God has done, in the incarnation of the Son. And also, friends, come and see what God has done in His rescue and redemption of me.

The painting I purchased - it's women in the family tree of Jesus - It's Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. I could write more about them, but I won't take the time in this post. Suffice it to say - they aren't who you'd expect. They were wronged. They were bound to a life they never would have picked for themselves. They were sinned against. They weren't even all Jewish! They knew what it was like to be in desperate need of rescue. To want nothing more than to be provided for, to be...chosen. And they were chosen. They received the rescue they were waiting for, and they never would have guessed what would happen long after their stories were ended in a little town called Bethlehem, with the birth of a little baby - their many many many times Grandson! I love that picture because of all it represents to show God's faithfulness to those he will call his own.

Part of a lyric to Welcome to Our World by Chris Rice. I traced it off my computer onto "table paper" from Ikea. You've been promised, we've been waiting. That was true of those in the days of Jesus birth, looking forward to his 1st coming, and it's true of us now, looking back on his 1st coming, and looking forward to his 2nd coming. Sometimes it feels so far away, and so impossible, and ...could it really be true, because it doesn't seem likely...and I bet that's what it felt like then, too. And so we wait, with great anticipation for the day we know is coming - the heavens will be rent, the sky will open, and our King will descend to reign and dwell and live with us forever.

A pretty little advent from Gracelaced (Ruth Chou Simons), I put the cards on a christmas card holder from Ikea, and it looks so great!

Hung a wreath on the barn door!

Some art by Gracelaced.

Some art by me!

My nativity set

The Joshua Tree

All delecate/breakables/truly precious ornaments have to stay off the big tree, because we have animals, and they've knocked it over more than once😡

The Jesse Tree...and our stockings

I love the mantle! So pretty

The Jesse Tree is part of our advent traditions.

Vale is loving this Playmobil nativity - so it always looks like this

We love Charlie Brown

A baby nativity set. 

But Vale is very upset that Jesus can't come out of his bed, she is quite bothered by the fact that he's lying down. She tries to pry him out and even bite him out😂 But she always sets him up like this😂😂

Small festive touches

Kenna made that wreath in 2019

Adding a few lights to regular items makes things looks more Christmasy

Outdoor decor. I love it!

Lights added to the planters😆

 And where is my pic of the big tree?! Lol. Well, I guess it looks the same as it always does, actually😉

Christmas Day Desserts

Before dessert, meet Melchior, Baltazar and Gaspar😍 Made by Lauren and Meghan out of Dale's old shirts!

Meghan dazzled us by taking on the desserts for Christmas Day. They were truly phenomenal!! This cheesecake (cranberry white chocolate) was one of the best I have ever tasted. The recipe was spot-on.

The mushrooms. THE MUSHROOMS!! They are so cute I don't even know where to start! They are made out of meringue

 

Family Picture Day 2020

We squeezed in our picture day this year, about 10mins before the skies opened up in torrential rain, and when Vale was already about an hour overdue for her nap. She was a little crabby, but you can't tell - the pics turned out so well. As with every year, I am just utterly shocked at how grown up they are.

Lyric in Pictures

We added a new ornament to our tree this year.

Toast to the ones here today.

Toast to the ones that we lost on the way.

 We miss you Luc.

Messy Face, Don't Care

This child...She's a complete disaster, and insists on it. But that smile😁

 

Vale's 2nd Birthday Party

Vale has been OBSESSED with Frozen II since she was about 13 mths old. She has watched at least a part of it daily since then. It was a no brainer picking her birthday theme this year - especially since she is turning 2! It's actually a really fun theme, and we got a lot of mileage out of it, for sure. Of course I turned to the internet for party ideas, and was fairly disappointed - everything for Frozen themed parties is either all about Olaf, or all sugar/desserts. So the kids and I really had to come up with our own ideas - and this is what we decided on...pics of most of it, but I'll post all the things for some of it we didn't get pictures of!

The cake was fun! I made some candy on a cookie sheet and shattered it for the ice particles on the top - and the white is melted white chocolate with sprinkles.

The inside of the cake was vanilla cake, with a blueberry compote - she is also obsessed with "blue-booties", so this was a gimme as far as the direction of the flavour - since she really has no actual cake flavour preferences at this stage.

We made pretzel Sven's.

Melted snowman. It's just Sprite, with (new, clean) buttons, and a peeled carrot stick floating in there.

I used a variation of this recipe for the punch. The original tastes better, however, this was very good - I used Hawaiian Punch (the blue stuff), instead of lemonade (didn't need the water either, as the blue juice is not a concentrate), and vanilla ice cream instead of lime sherbet. It was good, and worked with our theme!

This was probably my favourite..."Yoohoo! Big summer blowout!" The kids loved this one too. Mine had never had Yoohoo before, but they loved it.

She LOVES Olives, cheese puffs and "fretzulls" - so this little trio of munchies seems random, but it's actually very authentically Vale😂

Blue Jello, with marshmallow Olaf's "I've always dreamed of summer!"

Ice chips, corn chips, potato, potahtoe😉

The food table!

The little take home gift for the guests. Orange tic tac (yes, they sell a container of all oranges, whew!), pretzels, chocolate chips and marshmallow)

 The main meal was Sandwiches, of course - we had ham or turkey subs, pb&j's 

Also a type of sandwich, but it's own category was the Meatball (Troll) subs. Because the rock trolls look like meatballs, right?!

Enchanted Forest Foliage - salad

Reindeer Food - veggies & dip

Elsa's snowballs - vanilla ice cream, pre-scooped into muffin papers for grab and go eating/adding to the cake.

We had a little game using those small powered donuts (I added an Olaf nose and eyes with icing) tied to dental floss, and strung across an expanse from 2 poles - the kids had to eat the whole donut dangling from the dental floss without using their hands.

A little "toss the snowball" game using cups and marshmallows.

They each decorated their own paper lunch sack with a variety of Frozen stickers and then did a Frozen pinata - they had the lunch sack to collect their candy.

It was a really fun party, and totally on theme in every way!