Monday, December 22, 2008

festival of trees~blue monday

Wow! Has it really been five days since my last post?
Since Wednesday, I have been doing alot of cooking, running here and there, entertaining, and traveling to other parties and church events.
Tis the season to be BUSY! {smiles}

Below are some of the goodies I prepared last week.

Chocolate-covered Marshmallows....



Christmas Tree Cupcakes for David's School Party....


....Made with Dollar Tree Suckers.

I added the green sprinkles for mere decoration, however David decided that they were fallen needles from the Christmas Trees. Oh, the imagination that comes from the mind of a child!


And cupcakes for Ashley's School Party....



Now for my BLUE MONDAY Christmas Contribution....
{Weekly event hosted by Sally at Smiling Sally Blog ~Be sure to visit her for more BLUE Posts!}


A couple of weeks ago, the Festival of Trees was held in our town, to benefit the local Hospice Organization. I volunteered a couple of mornings, as a school groups tour guide. My last group on the second day, was a special needs high school class of about 10 students. They were the most well-mannered group I led, and took in every tree, ornament, Santa, etc., with excitement and an innocence that would warm your heart. They were such a blessing and delight.
I took a few pictures to share of the Christmas Trees....



The first tree, dominated by BLUE, was sponsored by the local Newspaper.

The angel, "fringe" on the tree skirt, and garland were all made from newspaper. The "ornaments" were strips of pictures from thoroughout the past year.




The Snowman Tree, below, was the children's favorite!
{...and many adults, too! :) }

Coming in a close second, was The Grinch Tree, with ornaments made from lightbulbs.
{Made by one of the elementary schools}
Beautiful Jewel-tone Trees...




Another BLUE tree...

The beautiful wreaths were made and donated to be sold at the festival.



The Angel Trees.
The paper doves contained names of Hospice patients from the last year.


~~~

And finally, I wasn't going to send out Christmas Cards this year. (Partly because I was running out of time.) Ashley crowned me the Christmas Card Grinch, so I gave in with guilt, and took pictures to send, after church yesterday.

David was wearing a BLUE shirt, not very festive.

After trying to get shot after shot, of David NOT clowning around, this was the best two.


Cheers! ~Rhonda :)

30 comments:

ellen b. said...

Hi Rhonda!
Love all the treats you made. Very creative of you!!
Those trees are all so great and unique. Love the Christmas photo of the kids too.
A very Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Rhonda! Just a quick stop in to say Happy Holidays and what a beautiful picture of the kids!!! See you after Christmas!!! Sincerely, Jeannette

ko said...

WHAT YUMMY TREATS!! MMMMMMM DELISH! I love all of those trees......GORGEOUS!!!!!

onlymehere said...

Every time I see Ashley I see you and how you looked in your wedding picture! How crazy is that? You have been busy, haven't you! I enjoyed the tour of the trees and how sweet of you to be willing to give of yourself and lead the tours. Love the cupcakes too. I can't believe those chocolate covered marshmallows either, were they hard to make? You have sooooooooo many talents!! Merry Christmas. P.S. My cards are going out in the mail today. I struggle doing cards every year but that's another post entirely!! Cindy

Susan said...

Beautiful trees and tasty looking treats.
Susan

SmilingSally said...

What a nice post! I can see why that snowman tree was such a hit; it's unique! All of the trees were fun to see, but best of all, was that wreath with the nativity scene in the center.

I think I'm not going to do cards next year; there's so many people who view it as a chore, and I don't want people to feel that they HAVE to return a card to me.

Happy Blue Monday!

Anonymous said...

Afternoon, Rhonda! Oh, how delicious your goodies look! Fortunate kiddoes to get those!

The trees look awesome. I'm assuming that's your tree in your header? It's beautiful.
Be a sweetie,
shelia ;)

Anonymous said...

I'm back to say - wonderful pictures of your children.
Be another sweetie,
shelia :)

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Hi, precious Rhoda!

You put me to shame with your goodies! I need to bake some today!!! LOL! You gave me a great idea with your cupcakes. Thanks!

And those trees! I feel as if I went on the tour with you! Thanks so much for sharing. So festive and fun. And your precious ones! They are so cute!

Happy Blue Monday!

xo,

Sheila

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Rhonda,

I know you are Precious Rhonda! I got in a hurry typing and left out the "n"! The other day I spelled my own name Sheia! I left out the "l"! It's time for me to slow waaaaaaaaay down! LOL!

XO,

Sheila :-)

Unknown said...

Rhonda,
Looks like you've been really busy! Your baked goods looks yummy! I would love to have one with my coffee I just made!

The trees are lovely and your children are so adorable as always.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Diane

Kristen said...

Chocolate-covered Marshmallows!!!!!
Yummy
The trees and your kids are great

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Anonymous said...

Rhonda I enjoyed all the trees!

Your children are beautiful. Great Christmas photos.

Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Love the Christmas portraits. They are both adorable.

And, I love your Christmas tree cupcakes. Yum!

Deb said...

Hi Rhonda! Love those sweet treats! The childern and trees are beautiful too! Cheers to you, my friend. Deb

Anonymous said...

Dear Rhonda what a lovely post. I enjoyed seeing all of the Christmas trees. All of your treats are so festive and pretty. That takes a lot of time. How nice that you made them for school treats. Your a good Mom. Love the family photos too. Blessings to you and your family this christmas and holiday season.

The Muse said...

this post is superb..i feel so filled with Christmas joy...thanks for sharing all your imagery and i am pleased to meet you from the blue monday :)

Kathy said...

What darling goodies and wonderful trees, Rhonda!

I want to take the opportunity to wish you a wonderful, merry Christmas and a new year filled with love and joy!
XO,
Kathy

Ceekay-THINKIN of HOME said...

Your children are so beautiful. I love that snowman tree also...very creative...really all of them!

Unknown said...

I enjoyed your little parade of trees here...they were so beautiful! So nice to meet you via Blue Monday!

Unknown said...

Your goodies all looked yummy! Those trees are all beautiful - love that snowman one - so unique!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Nancy Rosalina said...

Hi Rhonda,Those are cute, cute cupcakes! Loved the tree show too! I won't be around much till after the New Year, so I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Nancy

Anonymous said...

Hi Rhonda,
Darling Christmas tree cupcakes. Merry Christmas to you and your beautiful family!!

Hugs,
LeAnn:)

Anne Fannie said...

Hi Rhonda, what yummy looking treats! Those christmas trees are amazing. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Love, Ann

Darlene said...

Oh, your treats are all wonderful looking....so festive and pretty! What a cute idea for the cupcakes!

Those trees are all gorgeous...that must have been so much fun looking at all of them.

Deb said...

BLESSINGS RHONDA! AND BEST WISHES TO YOU AND YOURS THIS CHRISTMAS! Deb

Susan said...

I just passed an award on to you. Come & see.
Susan

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

Beautiful trees, and what a great idea to use those $ store lollipops to decorate those cupcakes. Beautiful picture of the children. laurie

nikkicrumpet said...

You HAVE been busy...making all those yummy treats. So nice of you to make that many cupcakes! The trees were so fun to look at. I gotta say those grinch ornaments from lightbulbs were very clever!

Melissa Miller said...

Hi Rhonda,

How mouth watering are those marshmellow treats you made!

I want some ASAP! LOL!

Have a very blessed Holiday. ~Melissa :)