O Christmas Tree....

This is my funky little tree. I just had to share it with you because it truly is one of a kind...kind of Dr. Suess-ian and way fun!!! It's kind of rubbery with the texture of rawhide.
It was soooo suitable for leaving out when I had the daycare kids around the house. I found the forlorn little thing at the second hand store. This place is a treasure trove for amazing seasonal things. And that brings me to todays tip! I think we are on TIP #5 Go to the second hand store!!!! Most second hand stores bring out there seasonal decor sometime Late in November. You can find almost-NEW stuff at these stores. Table top trees, full-size artificial trees, wreaths (I bought five bare wreaths for Advent at church for $11!!), seasonal baskets (I have a basket by my backdoor that I filled with two packs of green moss from Dollarama), ornaments, snowmen, santas, angels....etc.... Of course there WILL be tacky stuff out there but for the diligent seeker, there is treasure just waiting to be found.

Today was a nice day...and I am glad to be home again. We are on the verge of freezing rain and it is messy outside. SO thrilled to get a ride home from Little Lambs because I had my good boots on. I'm so vain!
Visuals are ready for Sunday. Just had to add the "word-of-the-week" at the front display board on the organ side. I'd been asked to do worship visuals on a fulltime basis but have decided not to pursue it at this time. Loooong story...too long for here. I'm much happier having made this decision and no longer having it hang over me. That tends to drain my brain. I feel a card coming on....gotta go!

Happy Monday!!

After a fun morning with the stamping group I am home again. I got to have a bowl of soup before I left and thought I would update this general area for a moment before continuing on. This is what the front of the garage looks like this season. I thought I would share this one last picture with you, and maybe that funky little Christmas tree yet next post....

It was a nice weekend, conluding with a seniors and youth group dinner at church after the afternoon service. We do this monthly and this time it was Casserole Extravaganza Night. I brought Bahmi and peanut sauce....those who recognized it, enjoyed it tremendously. It is always nice to see the seniors enjoying a warm meal and they were very appreciative too. It is put on by the deacons... Once we got home it was nice and early yet and we could wind down before watching the Amazing Race.

We were supposed to get some freezing rain but it doesn't seem to have made its way down here yet. That's okay by me!! Tomorrow we have Little Lambs for the last time before Christmas break and I have a meeting tonight. It is still busy but it will be nice for those things to wind down for a few weeks and be replaced by some seasonal new things. Just like making cards....right now we are busy making Christmas cards but soon it will be regular time again...it is nice to make a thankyou or birthday card and use some of those papers and stamps again. We are ready for some holidays I think. I didn't feel well last night and went to bed early, I didn't even notice Ray turning the light off after reading for a while!! Slept like a log.

Decorating tip of the day! This is one I saw at my friend Nancy's house this morning, and it is something I do here as well! Keep some of your favourite ornaments on a window sill, or ledge, where you can see them all the time. I have some special ones from friends and it is nice to group them together and think nice things while you are doing the dishes there! Eventually your tree becomes so full you can't hang them all anyway!! This is nice for people who don't put a tree up for one reason or another.

Cheap Therapy

Do you ever have something happen to you and you just don't know where to file it in the life experience section? It's one of those days today. Ya just can't figure out what goes on in some people's brains and why they do the things they do...and what if THEY knew that YOU know what they DON'T think YOU know. If you can follow that you must still be on your first glass of wine. Anyway.....I had the chance to have lunch with some girlfriends and you know what they say.....Good friends are cheaper than therapy....and then I went home and finished outdoor decorating.

I have an old weathered storm window frame that I bestowed some decorating upon. I chipped the dirt out of my frozen urn out front with a hammer and screwdriver....hoping the neighbourhood would not take note of my slothful outdoor fall cleanup. But...it's hard to be discreet while you're putting your back into it!


Decorating Tip #3- wait until you are home for Christmas and can go tromping out into the bush as a family to gather things. This would make for a lot of fun bonding time....AND give you access to FREE material at the same time. A bonus tip for today.....I saw a lovely metal wall sconce on my walk to house cleaning yesterday. It was filled with pine boughs and such, plus a big burgundy velvet bow. It looked soooo lovely. It was lined with that burlappy stuff and probably a bit of oasis....although a friend uses sand.

Tonight I get to serve a Christmas dinner at our local seniors complex, catered by our church's mission team. I love serving and love working with the members of that team, we are good friends and that makes it more fun than work.

The cadets are still meeting at church this weekend so I will wait with cleaning the downstairs until they have vacated the premises. Not much point in doing it multiple times.

Preparations for the second sunday of Advent are complete. We got these cooooooool electric candles, battery operated...that we are using for the candlelight service in various ways....soooo funky!

Enjoy whatever downtime you have this weekend....and those with exams....hang in there!!