Christmas Entertaining

Christmas time is officially here!!  As I get older I have become a sucker for Christmas time and absolutely love decorating the tree, shopping for presents and baking Christmas cookies.

Even though Dash is only 12 weeks old, Christmas time seems so much more magical now we've become a family!!

I wanted to order birth announcement cards for family and friends after Dashiel was born but had missed the boat.  I ordered these fantastic Christmas cards in a gift tag shape from Minted and thought they would make a wonderful substitute.

The wonderful photo of Dash was taken by Victoria Poulton Photography  

I've started an annual tradition with friends - baking cookies!!  This year, we did Vanilla Snap Cookies and Gingerbread Men.  The decorating is the fun part!!

Christmas Tree Decorations - Country Road

String Lights (wall) - Freedom

Gift Cards - Minted.com

Valentines Day Blues?

Some of us despise valentines day, some of us love it... whether you're sitting at home watching Bridget Jones and eating a whole tub of Ben and Jerry's or you're out on a romantic date, why not change your perspective this valentines day and pay it forward with a gift to a friend or family member.  

If you happened to read my post on learning to spend more wisely, you'll recall that spending money on others can increase your satisfaction, more so than purchasing items for yourself!!

Why not make someone else's day on Valentines Day?  

This valentines day, we had a "secret valentine" at work - we drew names from a hat to exchange gifts amongst staff members (much like secret santa or Kris Kringle).  

I decided to make these Donna Hay Vanilla Snap Cookies, with a love theme!!!  These cookies taste fantastic and are really easy to make!  They're perfect for cutting into all sorts of fun shapes.

 I packed them up into a cute jar with some ribbon to turn them into a cost effective gift, made with love!

I hope my secret valentine enjoys their surprise!

Gifts don't have to be expensive to make someone's day....as a bonus, there's leftover cookies at home too!!