Christmas Fun, Christmas Trees and a Chimney!

One of the great things about the Church that I'm a member of, well I think it it is a great thing, is that every month the women of Relief Society (18 years old and above) get together and do something. It's because of evenings like this that I can honestly say that I love these women and of course I get to know them a little more each time we hang out.

At the tail end of November (last Friday basically) we got together to have a Christmas themed evening. I knew a little of what was planned, we were going to craft Christmas Advent books, and I knew it was going to be a great evening, filled with fun and glue sticks! I was really excited to attend.

One of the members of the Relief Society presidency asked if I could bring a Christmas tree up to the Chapel I agreed because, honestly I knew that a little bit of extra Christmas cheer would be perfect and I was going to be getting my Christmas Trees down the following day ready to put up anyway, so it wasn't like it was any extra work. Well, apart from the whole putting them up twice in one weekend.

As luck would have it, Top Ender had a Inset day at School and so she and I headed up to the Chapel with our main Christmas tree, our Kitchen tree and our Front door tree. We decided to dress the part to help get us and the others going to get set up into the Christmas Spirit.

PippaD and Top Ender dressed up as Elves


It worked, every time we moved we jingled and it just added to the merriment. It wasn't particularly conducive to the serious conversation I was having at one point of the morning however!

We had a brilliant morning setting up the trees, arranging the tables and chairs and making everything look Christmasy and festive. Top Ender decorated our main Christmas tree with some decorations from Church, and some display boards (well, actually they are two halves on a table tennis table and a white board, but ssh! Also, I'm not sure what I was doing as it sounds like top!)

Top Ender and the Christmas Tree she decorated

In fact we did such a great job, there was just one thing missing from our set up. Well, according to Top Ender there was one thing missing from our setup and as she appears to have an eye for this sort of thing, we all listened when she said what it was we needed. According to Top Ender, the one thing that was missing was...

A Fireplace.

And then Top Ender volunteered me to make one, before 7pm that evening when I'd need to leave my house to pick up some friends on my way to the Chapel. So I agreed.

Yeah, I'm not sure why I said I could either, I mean I'm not crafty. I don't do crafts.

Which is why, a few hours later this was set up where Top Ender had determined we needed a Fireplace.

The Fireplace I made for the Relief Society Christmas Party

Sorry it isn't the best picture in the world, I forgot to take another one during the evening and when I did remember I'd already taken it down and packed it away ready for use during our Christmas Party (which is going to rock by the way, as I managed to volunteer myself to organise it).

If you are interested, the video which is showing on the TV above the Fireplace is called Light The World, and it's about doing small acts of Service everyday during December. You can see the video below (2 mins 37 seconds long) and find out more at Mormon.org/Christmas.


The evening was a great success, there was plenty of great food, amazing hot chocolate (it was done in the slow cooker and I'm pretty certain it was milk and melted chocolate, but I'll get the recipe and share it with you all), great crafting and the best company.

So what do you think of the fireplace and do you think I can get away for much longer with the whole "I'm no good at crafting" angle?!