It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I absolutely L.O.V.E. Christmas time!

The home in my dreams has a large foyer with a high ceiling for a tall, lush Christmas tree adorned with luxurious ornaments, placed stylishly besides our baby grand piano. A girl can dream, right?

Even though I love decorating our much more practical, cozy home for the festive season, I have learned to be much more realistic with what I have time for and what would cause me joy instead of exhaustion. So, the last two years have been quite low key but you definitely still know it’s Christmas.

Year-end Function

This year I planned our practice’s year end function at Afroboer and compiled the centerpieces and decor. The dress code was green, red and white and everyone had to wear a pair of Christmas Spectacles (since we are an optometry practice). There was a prize for the best spectacles.

(I am still learning to take photographs for events before people arrive – bear with me).

I took old glass jars, cleaned them and sprayed them gold. For the red theme I used pincushions and added spruce cuttings from my mom’s garden.

The wreath and matching garland are both from Makro.

With the help of one of my colleagues, Marinda, we came up with some games to play during the luncheon to break the ice and create opportunities for light-hearted conversation and laughter:

Marinda got hold of an Elf name activity, where everyone gets a sticker with their elf name calculated according to their birthday and name. (source)

Here are some games I designed after being inspired by Pinterest. You can download them for FREE and enjoy at your next party!

Guess the Christmas Carol

This game involves identifying the specific Christmas carol by looking at the picture. It is clear that not everyone follows the same logic when looking at the details.

Sneaky words

With this game you hide a word or phrase under each guest’s plate. They have to use their phrase in conversation as often as possible. The other guests have to try and catch them out when they use their phrase. It is so much fun to try and work these phrases into conversation.

These are some other games that can be quite fun during a Christmas themed party:

Left – right game

In this game each guest brings a small gift and holds their gift at the start. The host reads a Christmas story with the words left and right spread throughout. When either of these words appear all the guests must pass their gifts in the appropriate direction. When the game is finished the gift you are holding is yours to take home. (source)

Here is a similar game that follows the nativity story.

When I was looking for games to play with our choir I came across this game which looks like a lot of fun for a musically inclined group.

Decorating our home

I recycled a lot of the same elements from the party to decorate our home.

Even though our décor is humble and low key, it makes me so joyful when I come home. It stirs my heart with the anticipation of Christmas and the special time with loved ones that lie ahead.

And at the end of the day – that’s what it is all about.

Merry Christmas!