Lets Get This Party Started!!

Hello Everyone.  Happy Sunday.

 I had my annual Girlfriend Charity Christmas Party last night and here are some pictures and a fun surprise to share with you.

Let me start by saying I have the greatest group of bff's ever.  I host this party each year to celebrate our love and friendship.
My daughters now as young adult women are part of the party and invite their special bff's to come.  It is fun that they want to be part of this wonderful tradition.

Now on to my surprise.

Not sure about you guys but I hate being surprised.  I just have never liked it.  My hubby Terry knows better usually not to surprise me with anything.  Nope just do not like it.

Well that Man pulled off a good one last night!

I know a lot of you know Diana from Nana Diana Takes A Break Blog.  I have known Diana for the past few years and we have become very good friends. Diana lives about 4 hours north of where I live in the Chicago burbs.  Diana has a beautiful home in Green Bay Wisconsin. We are always saying let's find a half way point and a day to meet up.  Like with most well intentioned plans we never seemed to come up with a day for a meet up.  That all got remedied with Terry surprising me and  having Diana come in for the party.

Here we are meeting in my living room Friday night.
I was so surprised when Diana walked in the door.

We had such a great time together at the party.  We felt like we have known each other all our lives.  She fit right in with my crazy bunch of friends and everyone said they all felt Diana had been in our circle of friendship for a long time.
Thank you sweet Diana for coming in for the party and spending some time with me this weekend.

Here are some highlights of the party.  I promise I will not bore you with a lot of pictures.

The house was all a glow for the party.

The sweets table was ready for later in the evening.

Terry's "Fireman" Cave converted to a "Chic" Cave for the night.

A long table so we girls could all sit together to eat, drink and play games.

Terry's fireman Christmas tree was glowing with all his collected fire department ornaments.

Walking Taco Bar ready to go.

Remember those cute little reindeer/Frito bowls I made for the walking Tacos.  Ready to be filled with yummy taco meats and toppings.

Prizes for the games we played.

Here is a group pic.  We were missing a few girls that had to leave early before we got the group picture taken.  Even though we told Cooper no boys allowed he wanted to be part of the girlfriend group shot!

We had lots of fun eating and playing games and of course the gift exchange.  Each girl brings a gift that some or most of the proceeds for buying the gift benefits a charity.  It always amazes me each year the beautiful gifts the girls bring for the exchange and how beautiful these gifts are to share.  It fills our hearts to know we have received a beautiful gift to take home that also is benefiting someone else in need.

This is my fun friend Pat trying out her spa gift!  Pat was feeling her Zen with her new spa items.

These are the two brave bouncers for the party.

We tired Cooper out with all our laughing and fun.  This is why we told him no boys allowed they cannot keep up with us party girls!

Hope you all are having a great weekend preparing for Christmas.  This party always kicks off the season for me.  Stay tuned this week I will have my Holiday Home Decor to show you.

Have fun decorating and getting ready for the big day.
Glad all my decorating is done.  It just makes this fast moving time of year more enjoyable.

Have a great start to the new week ahead.
Hugs,
Kris

Totally love this idea!

I am getting ready for my annual Charity Girlfriend Party this Friday.  I am cleaning and getting food prep done this week.  I thought I was all done planning things for this party and then I saw something really cute on my bff Diana's blog Nana Diana Takes A Break that she does with ginger bread boys for guest leaving her home.

Light bulb went off!!  

Here is Diana's post on this cute idea.

I baked Angel Wing Sprinkle Cookies for the girls coming to the party and thought how fun would it be to tie these off in bags and hang them on my advent calendar on my back door.  That way each girl can take a cookie as they leave the party.

All these girls that come to the party are sweet angels in my life so these cookies are a nice reminder of how they make my life sweeter to have them in it.

Thanks Diana for letting me steal,  oh wait steal is such an ugly word,  I mean borrow and be inspired by your idea!!! Yeah that is what it was!!!!

This is my Chalkboard Advent Calendar.  Each day has a cute little brown paper bag.  The brown bags have seen better days so next year I will have to come up with something cute to hang on this calendar instead of the bags.  I am sure I can find something creative and fun.

I baked my "famous" asked for angel wing sugar cookies and sprinkled each one with fairy dust sprinkles.  I then tied them off in a cello bag and hung them on the Advent Calendar.
The recipe for these sugar cookies can be found here on my pinterest board.  So easy to make and so yummy.

Here they are hung on the calendar ready for each girl that leaves the party to take one home for the car ride.  You always need a roader treat for the car ride home right?!!!!

Thanks Diana for this fun little idea.  I loved her gingerbread men hung by her front door and each guest as they leave cuts a little guy to take home.  Super sweet.  That Diana is the hostess with the mostess.

As we slide on down to the big day.  Enjoy all the decorating, shopping, wrapping and baking prep.
I have most of my stuff done and am a head of the game this year.  Just feels like I can relax and enjoy the holidays more being on top of things.

Big Hugs,
Thanks for your visit.
Kris

Christmas Tree Ornaments

  Hope your Thanksgiving was full of wonderful time with family and friends.

I have started my Christmas decor and wanted to show you some of my ornaments on my tree for this year.

My tree each year has many angel ornaments that I have collected or were gifted over the years.  Of course front and center is my beautiful angel Hope.  She is dressed in a vintage Christening gown and wears her pretty jeweled crown.

Hope wears my grandmothers angel brooch.  My sweet grandmother lived to be 2 months short of her 100 birthday.  She always had a pretty pin on her sweaters and this angel was one of her favorites.  So happy to have it on my Hope angel.

My Hope sign added into the tree.

Hope looks so pretty at night with the tree all a glow.

Along with my angel ornaments I like to add nature to the tree too.

Pretty chandelier ornaments add some sweet bling to the tree.

This ornament was gifted to me on a package last year from a dear friend.

This is just a sampling of all my ornaments I add to my tree each year.  They all have such wonderful memories attached to them.

 Are you getting your Christmas decor going?  Enjoy this beautiful time of year.  May all your lights sparkle and glow when you plug them in!!!!!!  Happy Decorating.

Hugs,

Kris

Parties:
One More Time Events
Show and Share
Vintage Charm
Shabbilicious Friday Christmas