Christmas Open House

Every year, our gift to my husband's family is to host an Open House Christmas night. His sister started the tradition and then moved. I took up the slack. I have no idea how long I've been doing it, but it's been over 20 years. No one is expected to bring anything but themselves and their families. All of his siblings(of which 12 are still living) and families down to grandchildren, along with my "family" that lives here. Numbers vary from year to year. We've had as many as 75 and as few as 35, but it's chaos and mayhem and fun.

I've finally got this year's invitation worked out, and I've started making them. I thought I'd post an invitation while I was watching Sanctuary. The papers are from NitWit Collections HoHoHo kit and Simple Joys Too Kit. The Santa Boot is a file I purchased from Whimsie Doodle after seeing some cards made by Judy Kreutcher. When I saw this boot, I knew it had to be a part of my invitations. I used my Make The Cut Software to convert the JPEG file into a cutting file to use with the Cricut and also to cut the HoHoHo message. I punched the Jingle Bells out of some metallic paper using my Martha Stewart punch, embossed the stocking top and added some ribbon.

For the invitation part I simply inserted a text block using Word. Now, if I can just get all parts printed, cut out, assembled and in addressed envelopes this weekend, I'll be making real progress. Of course, there's a card challenge or two I have to get entries made for, so I might just have to take a break.

Thanks for taking a peak, and I'll be sure to post pics from the actual Open House. This year for the MM and his family are going to be here for Christmas for the first time since he was born. I can hardly wait.