What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Deck the Halls Party

It has been a bit of a tradition in our family to throw a Deck the Halls party each year; no invites are sent, no guests arrive, just we ourselves having a grand ole time of thing. I rather like it, and the children think it is quite special to have parties thrown just for them. It is a nice family thing that gets everybody involved and feeling the Christmas spirit.

We turn up the Christmas music, some don festive clothing just for the occasion, and we enjoy the first eggnog of the season (with whipped cream!). But most specially of all~ we eat only junk. Snacks, finger food and goodies that are rare treats for us. The biggest perk for me, of course, is that I get a night off of cooking (AND DISHES!) after a day bustling with getting the tree, hauling boxes of decorations and moving furniture around.

This year the "junk" included~

Cracker stonewalls, summer sausage roses and daisy cheese. I'll give you one guess who made that platter....

(SOMEBODY couldn't wait....)

Roasted Peanuts

Peppermint marshmellows

Jalapeno poppers

Clementine wedges (See? It isn't ALL junk...)

Little Smokies

and ginger cookies warm from the oven. (Okay, so I made SOME dishes.)


I love how doing the smallest little things just shoot your children over the moon. Like putting Christmas lights on the food table, eating food with skewers instead of forks and having marshmellows for supper.


I usually put the lights on (while childer are shoving their faces...) and then let them have at it with the ornaments.


Sometimes, if it turns out too lopsided, after the children go to bed I do a little tree intervention.




But really, enough lights and sparkle can cover a multitude of sins.



"What? You mean I can't touch the glass ornaments?"



And then, after the children are all snuggled down deep in their beds, a good game of face-paced Rummikub with the one you love in the glow of Christmas-tree light is just the ticket.

9 comments:

Mary said...

Love the lights around the food table.

You'll get your turn all too soon Judah bear!

Christmas lights just seem to make playing a game more romantic!

Beautiful tree!!!!

Bonnie said...

Lovely tree, lovely eats, hilarious Judah, and I thought that you said jalapeno marshmallows.

Paula said...

Wow, Judah really looks like Andrew in that second to last photo!

I often indulge in a little 'tree intervention' after the children are in bed too. Glad it's not just me!

JenniferM said...

I thought the youngest got to do the angel-topping? : )

Anonymous said...

the house already looks like home...you've done a great job making it a beautiful, cozy space!

Abigail said...

Jalapeno marshmallows are my all-time favorite.

And completely unrelated to this glowing post, I realized when I put my shoes away last night that your killer red heels are twins to the gray ones I almost wore to church. Good thing there were no red ones on clearance when I bought the gray, or we'd be in trouble! :)

Unknown said...

Fun, fun, FUN!!! :)

Anonymous said...

are those cookies the same ones listed as Molasses cookies on your recipes blog? they look yummy!

Rebecca said...

JenniferM~ I am always surprised when people remember our traditions from this blog. I wish I had half the memory of people like you! Yes-that is our tradition but since the youngest is....well....way too little, Corynn's begging ended her way.

Abigail~ do you, I wonder, get sore feet after wearing your gray versions? Because...the red ones weren't so nice to me that night. Maybe after I break them in....

Anonymous~ no it isn't the same recipe. This one is for a ginger cookie~ very similar but not the same. I intend to post the recipe. SOMEDAY. ;-)