Annual Christmas Luncheon

Our local demonstrator group (AKA the Get-together Group) had its annual Christmas luncheon today.

We've done this every December for, I don't know how many years - maybe close to ten now... It's a reason to sit around and chat about Stampin' Up! and to exchange hand made gifts, which must contain some Stampin' Up! product.

We use the Chinese Gift Exchange concept - i.e., we draw numbers, and then select a gift from the table in that order.

Number One can only select an unopened gift, but Numbers Two and beyond get the opportunity to steal an already opened gift, if they want. We do limit the "steals" to two per gift...

Here's a photo of the unopened gifts:













We had an awesome experience this year - Teresa's SON asked if he could come along and participate in the gift exchange! Of course, we all said YES! Here are he and his mom:















One of the other demos has a teen-aged daughter, Olivia, who was about nine months old when Sandy signed up, so she has been attending our events for quite a few years. Now she participates, too! And, if she hadn't been busy being Clara in The Nutcracker today, she'd been looking forward to joining us this year. Sandy said she's been planning what she was going to make for quite some time, so she was disappointed that she couldn't attend.

I think that says a lot about our stamping businesses, don't you? To have our children ask to attend our functions! I'm so pleased to know that we may have two potential second-generation stampers in our midst!

And, oh by the way - Luis's gift, which I chose, but which was stolen from me, was very impressive! He made a box and had 6 full cards and decorated envelopes in it. Unfortunately, I didn't get a great photo of it, but here's what I did get:


And check out the gift tag - he made the Santa out of punches - do you think he's been watching Mom for a while?









Here are some photos of the other gifts:










After we exchanged our gifts and had our fill at the buffet, everyone trouped over to my stampin' garage so they could all play with my new toys from the Occasions and Sale-A-Bration catalogs. Of course, their wish lists grew after seeing all my goodies!

I took a few minutes to play with those goodies late tonight, but mostly I went thru everything deciding what will work with what, and making my first embosslits and embossing folder samples. More to come, soon, I'm sure!

OH - Stampin' Up! is offering their version of The Twelve Days of Christmas - all Big Shot oriented, but everything is marked down about 25%.

ANNNNDDDDD - we're now offering the vinyl that our Decor Elements are made from in single sheets - Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Gable Green, So Saffron - there are 18 colors, in addition to black, gray, brown, and white!

OMG - my mind is awhirl with possibilities for Mr. Big and all the things I'll be able to cut and use to decorate things!

Go HERE to see that list - and put through an order! Or, if you'd prefer, give me a call or an email, and I'll be happy to order your items for you.

Stampin' Up! has told us that they won't guarantee any orders received after December 15th will be delivered by Christmas, but since I'm in San Diego, I can probably place orders a day or two later and still receive it in time for gift giving.

Let me know how I can help you!