Ward Christmas Breakfast

We had our ward Christmas Party on Saturday and the decor was crazy awesome.  Like Pinterest awesome.  I can't believe the work that must have gone into it!

The food donation area

cute mini presents stuck to the front of the stage

The program backdrop and where pics with Santa will be later.

Isn't that a sweet punch bowl?  It feels so festive!

Crazy marshmallows at the hot chocolate bar

Giant Cardboard ginger people decorated the walls all over

Can you believe the cardboard reindeer?  That must have been soo painful to make...  I have a hard time cutting out symmetric windows in a box house...

Cute gingerbread men.  Do you see the one with the casualty?

Plasticware is not supposed to look cute at a ward party...

Cereal and fruit.  I love those huge containers.

There was one of these at EVERY SEAT.  hours.  hours and hours is all I think of looking at this.

My visiting teachee's family just had a new baby last month and they dressed for a nativity while the birth story in Luke 2 was read and I played "Away in a Manger" on the piano.

When it was The Frog's turn to sit on Santa's lap, he crawled over and started barking.  This one never breaks character...

I thought Iris would like to talk to Santa and maybe Peach wouldn't cry if she was there too :)

Maren's Baby Shower

I threw a baby shower on Saturday for my neighbor. How convenient that we live so close and are having girls so close together! I had a lot of fun planning it and preparing, but that will probably be the last shower I throw by myself, with so many people invited. I got the invites on clearance for a steal and then printed on them at home. I think they turned out so cute!

I probably spent the most time on making the food. My mini tartlets made a reappearance.
I got the recipe for raspberry lemonade punch from Martha and I think I had more comments about how good this was than anything else. I used pink lemonade powder, instead of regular, and I think it was a good move. Also, notice my paper circle garland, draped all over the table. A simple but cute touch- which is why I copied it from some other blog...
I decided to turn my triple-layer coconut cake with lemon curd and cream cheese frosting into mini-cupcakes, and I think the result was well received.
My neighbor last minute offered to make some pull-apart cheese bread, for which I am extremely grateful. I had planned to make these before I talked to her, but I'm not sure when I would have had time to do it and have them still taste fresh. I'd still like to try them sometime. They look so cute! I also served strawberries, fresh pineapple, watermelon and cantaloupe balls, brownie bites and cream puffs (both from Costco) and lemon-lime water.

Here's Maren with some of the goods :) It was so fun to see all the cute baby girl things, for me especially because I haven't bought anything yet. It will be really hard to restrain myself, I think.
There was another little boy, about The Frog's same age, who came (same name as The Frog!) and when The Frog saw him, his first impulse was to give him a hug. This picture was captured just after the hug and just before the huggee broke down into tears.
Here we are, preggo together, bellies touching :)

Special thanks to Kira who took all the pictures for me! I knew she liked doing it and that she'd do a great job!

It was so fun to plan a cute party, but I'm glad it's over. I feel like I'm going to have a lot of free time this week, and that's just fine with me.