12/13/2011

Awana Christmas Treats for the leaders

So many chose to participate in the Awana Club program at our church.  It is a blessing to work with children and teach them to serve Christ.  It is not for everyone because it is hard work.  It takes time and effort for the leaders and those who help to substitute.  This year we have nearly 30 adults leaders functioning in a variety of roles to make our program work smoothly.  Jim is the Awana Commander again this year.  I decided we should give the leaders some small notes of encouragement or treats through the year.  We gave them each a candy bar with a note in October.  So I thought it was a good time to do it again.

I stamped a quote from Charles Dickens on glassine bags.  I love using glassine bags in projects.  I know that I am not the only one as I look around blog land.  We put some candy coated and some plain pretzels in the bags. 

I sewed the top of the bags shut.  I stamped some tags from my office with PTI Daily Design Sentiments to say "Thanks" on one side and "Joy to the world" on the other side with CTMH inks (holiday red and black).  I attached the tags with my Tim Holtz tiny attacher. 
Jim will give each leader one of these bags and thank them for their efforts in our Awana Club program.

I would encourage you to take time out and thank some of the workers in your church for their dedication.  We are the arms of Christ when we reach out to them.  You don't need to give them anything but your handshake and a positive word of affirmation and appreciation.

<^..^> Lori

12/12/2011

Christmas Dessert Theatre 2011

Such a wonderful presentation!  E and A are so talented!  They wrote the entire drama and all of the music for our Christmas Dessert Theatre again this year.

One of my jobs is table settings.  Here are some pictures of this year's tables, some of the delicious desserts, and some other shots of areas in the church. 








I don't want to put up pictures of people as I don't know if they would like you to see them on my blog. 

Guests had a choice of Reese's PB cheesecake, turtle cheesecake, triple chocolate cake, carrot cake, or Italian creme cake.  Children who didn't like those desserts could have a white cupcake with lots of icing and fun toppings. 




<^..^> Lori

Ladies Annual Christmas Gathering

The first Saturday in December we had our annual Ladies Christmas Gathering at GHBC.  This year I chose to offer a soup, salad, and breadstick luncheon at the church starting at 11:30 am.  We also had an optional cookie exchange at the end of the meal for anyone that wanted to participate.
 
Ladies who wanted to be in the cookie exchange were asked to bring 3 dozen cookies or candies.  We used 1 dozen of the treats as our dessert after the meal and the other 2 dozen were set out for the exchange.  It was really pretty to have all of those festive cookies and candies lined up on a long table.  It took two 8 foot tables to hold them all.  We had snowmen plastic trays laid out to hold the cookies.  I did not bring my camera that morning.  I wish I could make that more of a habit so I would be able to share the pictures here.  I am not going to beat myself up over it though...time in this world is too short to spend on that task.

Each table had a small tree wrapped in red bead garland.  We put 12 gift tags on each tree as ornaments but each lady present was able to take one home with her to use.  I found these gorgeous ornaments at Sam's this year.  60 tags in a box with 20 designs.  More than enough to decorate the 5 tables we set up.  We had 7 chairs at each table.  About 27 ladies signed up ahead of the gathering but we like to have extra place settings for last minute attendees. 

I chose Solo Christmas paper products this year for the cups, plates, and napkins.  They were in bright red, green, and white.  It looked festive!  
Ladies in the church signed up to bring soups so we had a nice variety of corn chowder, loaded bake potatoe, tortellini, and chicken noodle.  The salad bar was wonderful.  L and I had a variety of toppings.  They were all so yummy!  And we had homemade breadsticks.  G and E helped me make them the day before the gathering.  My first batch ended up in the garbage as they were ugly and hard and believe it or not covered with glitter.  LOL!  I had moved some items that morning that had gold glitter on them.  I washed my hands before starting the bread but it was obvious that I had not gotten all of the glitter off.  It was funny and embarrassing.

One not so good thing happened at this event.  One of the ladies tripped and fell.  She landed on a wrist that had been broken in her past.  She said it was hurting and later went for X-rays.  They told her it was not broken then called back a day later when another person read the tests and said it was broken and then they changed it again to say it was not broken.  Wow!  What a roller coaster ride for R!  She wore a sling for a day or two then the doctor told her to resume her normal routine.  I hope the Lord will continue to heal her wrist so she is back at 100%.   

<^..^> Lori

Some fall cards that I sent out





That last one is not my original idea.  I cased it from something I saw on Wendy Nasmith's blog earlier this year. 






<^..^> Lori