Host a campfire party in your own backyard for Canada Day, or any summer celebration.

(This post has been sponsored by Giant Tiger.  Content and opinions expressed are all my own.  Thank you for supporting the brands that make Personally Andrea possible!)

Hi! Welcome to Personally Andrea! If you’re new here, or visiting as part of the Year of Feasting series, it’s nice to meet you! Please sit back and enjoy a taste of summer, and be inspired for some summer entertaining. At the end of this post, you’ll find links to more party ideas from some beautiful Canadian blogging lovelies. Big thanks to Dannyelle at Life is a Party for hosting us!

Rustic Romantic Spring Bridal Shower

How to create a rustic and romantic theme for a spring bridal shower.   Food, decor ideas, take-home favors and a free printable included.  Also links to a series of posts on Spring entertaining for the first instalment in A Year of Feasting.

Valentine's Candy Inspired Family Table Setting

How to make family dinner special on Valentine’s Day with a candy inspired and family friendly table setting. Inspired by kids and conversation hearts.

I'm excited to be participating in a blog hop with some Canadian blogger friends, organized by the lovely Jo-Anna from A Pretty Life in the Suburbs.  Links to all the posts can be found at the end of this one, or search social media with the hashtag #CBValentinesDay.

Our Valentine’s Day

Post-Halloween Lowdown: Quick, Easy & DIY

‘Fess up, who is coming down off a candy high?  Or maybe yours is just starting?  Snuck into the treat bags while the kids were at school?  (That’s me!)

So, this year at the Personally house Halloween was thrown together and enjoyed in the course of about twenty four hours.  Might be record time around here.  This is the lowdown on how it all came together with very few purchases and a bit of elbow grease, but with a very festive ending.

First up was pumpkin carving, the night before.  The design is always left up to whoever wants to participate.  This year it was only Personally Junior who came up with a fabulous Batmouth design which he carved out of MY white pumpkin from MY front porch vignette.  Apparently it was cooler than the orange pumpkin we had picked for carving.  Anyone have any use for an uncarved orange pumpkin in November?

Breakfast in Bed

Happy Mother’s Day!  I hope that all my fellow moms out there are being well celebrated, remembered and honoured today.  Kudos for everything you have invested in the next generation.  One of the most worthwhile things you can do with your life.

And so, here are a few pretty, and yummy, photos to add to your festivities today.

Also I must take this opportunity to extol the virtues of breakfast in bed.  This is a twice annual treat for me, on my birthday and on Mother’s Day.  In my opinion this is an excellent skill to be developing in your children.  It will serve them well in life…and serve you well in the meantime.  It’s important to be positive and encouraging.    And remember that it’s always the thought that counts.

Here is some of the thoughtfulness I woke up to this morning…

This croissant concoction was posted on Teenaged Daughter’s Pinterest board a few days ago…I should have clued in, but they managed to surprise me.  Even the presentation of it was lovely.  I am a proud and lucky mom.  Good job kiddos.

Enjoy your day, Moms, however you have been celebrated.  Tomorrow…onward and upward.

Easter Bits and Pieces

So Easter has come and gone for another year.  There were lots of fun traditions that we managed to fit in.  The combination of family time, good food and some candy of course made for a memorable holiday.  Easter lilies are such a beautiful symbol of the season.

I also managed to defrost the outdoor urns enough to replace the evergreen and dogwood branches with some pussywillows and my crocuses from inside.  The blooms are spent but the foliage is so delicate and pretty.

On Good Friday my Family came for lunch.  Here you can see part of the tablescape at dessert time.
 

It’s also tradition for us to colour eggs on the Friday or Saturday before Easter.  The kids all insist on participating every year, which I love, and it’s a lot of fun.

These saturated-colour eggs we do every year.  I make up several glass bowls of different colours, deep enough to submerge at least a couple of eggs at a time.  The colour recipe:  boiling water, a big splash of white vinegar, and a dab of this icing colour paste.

 

 

Covering different parts of the egg with elastic bands, stickers or crayon between colouring it in several different colours makes the cool designs you see above.

This year I tried a new idea from Pinterest.  Brown eggs decorated with a white paint marker.  All the kids were into it and they turned out really pretty!

Magically the Easter Bunny shows up during the night, steals the eggs from the fridge and hides them in the backyard.  Super-fun!  Every year on Easter morning.

Do you think he’ll find it?  He’s pretty tricky, that Easter Bunny!

Family Valentine’s Day: Table Decor

What a fun occasion to celebrate as a family.  Ever since we have all been able to sit at the table in a civilized manner…wait…actually maybe we’re not quite there yet.  Ever since I have hoped we could all sit at the table in a civilized manner, we have been celebrating Valentine’s Day with a festive family dinner.  Decorations, dessert, the works.  Not fancy necessarily.  Just festive.  A theme is usually helpful to simplify things but still have it pulled together.  My usual…red.

Christmas Presents

Well, it has all been enjoyed…the baking, dinners, decorations and wrapping a la Pinterest.  What remains after it’s all been said and done are the gifts.  Carefully (or hastily) shopped for.  Or handmade.  Here are a few that were under the tree for me.

“Angel of Harmony” by WillowTree.  This from flute-playing Teenaged Daughter.  Very awesome gift on so many levels…the WillowTree, the flute and the Harmony.  This has found a perfect home on the library shelves in the living room, also affectionately known around here as the Music Room.

These from The Boys.  I have a collection of Christmas mugs that comes out for the season.  All tasteful, none tacky!  This one will make an excellent addition, and also I claim it as my personal mug, just in case anyone else thinks they can use it. 

And Christmas Blend Via.  Because Christmas Blend rules, and sometimes you don’t want to make a whole pot, or grind beans, or run the Nespresso.  There’s something very comforting and homey about instant coffee.  But still, it has to be good.  The Boys know their Mom.

This from my award-winning woodturning Dad.  Stunning.   Very worthy of being displayed on the countertop.  Small enough to hold in your hand and press the “grinder” down with your thumb. Especially appreciated since I have somehow been living with a grocery store quality pepper grinder for ages, with Children constantly complaining of having actual peppercorns in their food. 

My life was improved this Christmas.

Decorating the Tree

So, this year I let the boys decorate the Christmas tree.  By themselves.  Aha, you’re thinking.  There’s a wonderful mother, and she doesn’t care how her tree turns out.  Not so.  Well, I am a wonderful mother, but I do care…deeply…how my (did I say my?) tree turns out.  You see, there’s a method to my madness.

First of all, I did a “base” decoration of white lights, white mesh garland, and white decorative vine balls.

Second, I did a preliminary sort of all my ornaments.  I took out ONLY the ones I wanted on the tree this year…in the same rustic/white/natural elements theme as my mantel.

With a little bit of coaching along the lines of Don’t Put Them All At Eye Level, it was pretty hard for them to go very far wrong.  So now the tree looks great and we are all one big happy family.

A few of my favourite ornaments…

A couple of these textured but clear stained glass stars.  I think I got them at the One Of A Kind show in Toronto.  Great show!  Catch it if you can.
 
In German these are called Strohsterne…straw stars.  I made this one!  Actually!  With my mom, back in the day when I had time to create such intricately beautiful things.  Sigh.

My dad made this one.  A few years ago he made quite a lot of them and gave them away as Christmas gifts.  All with different designs cut out of the centre.  Epically talented, my dad.
Oh, and the tree is real.  Always.  I’m a little diehard about some things…

Celebrating Advent

I am a believer that some things in life can remain simple and sacred.  And one of things is the Advent season.  Technically beginning the fourth Sunday before Christmas and culminating on Christmas Eve, it is a season of preparation for and anticipation of Christmas.  Retail and media in our culture do dominate.  But for a few minutes, as many evenings as we can, as many as are home will gather around the lighted candles to sing a few carols and reflect on the meaning of Christmas.

So, now you are thinking thoughts like idyllic, romantic, religious maybe.  Not so.  If only you could imagine the elaborate schedule of turns for the lighting and snuffing out of candles that evolved over last year’s Advent season, instigated by Teenaged Daughter.  It required lengthy debate over fairness vs. unfairness at the start of EACH evening, I assure you!  Or how about the evenings when The Children decide that musical instruments should be played?  By the time instruments are out and tuned, and carols have been chosen that everyone can play in their key signature of choice (“What, am I supposed to transpose this on the spot????”), romance and religion are the farthest things from anyone’s mind.

Nonetheless, we persevere, because it helps us to stay focused in the midst of a consumerist, over-the-top, too busy culture.  And on occasion, there IS an idyllic moment…simple and sacred.

O come all ye faithful.