Christmas Decorations 2011

Okay, here it is...Christmas Decorations 2011.  Each year, our school does this big decorating contest.  Each "wing" decorates their wing with a theme.  My freshman year, we decorated our wing after Robert Frost's poem, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening.  My sophomore year we did the Revenge of the Elves.  This year's decorations were TOTALLY different for me because of many reasons.  For starters, being an RA, ultimately it was my responsibility.  If something went wrong, it came back on me.  It was my responsibility to make sure it was done.  This added a wide variety of challenges.  Secondly it was different in that I am in Hoops Hall instead of Des Plaines Hall.  Des Plaines is older and the walls are cinder blocks, so we could do anything to it, including hot glue.  Hoops is only 3 years old, and has painted Sheetrock walls.  The only thing we can use on them is sticky tack.

What was your theme this year, you may be wondering.  It was a Hot Chocolate Christmas, titled, "Super Sweet Christmas...hot chocolate style".  I must give credit to my mom though, because it was initially her idea.  When I first learned I was going to be an RA this year, that was one of the first things that popped into my head "oh no, I am responsible for decorations"  Talking to mom about it she was like "what about....".  I presented the idea to the girls and we ran with it.  Enough blabbing on my part though...here are the pictures.

 May I make the note that this is only half our hallway we were responsible for decorating.

 Emily helped out a lot.  Here she is making a marshmallow nativity.

 Bethani also helped a bunch, she is the artist of the fire place.

Courtney had lots going on this week, but she still pitched in a lot to help out. I believe she is beginning to make a mug in this picture.

The beginning of Valerie's masterpiece. 

Our sad snowman...it did not take spray paint well. 

Kaitlyn wrapping her door. 

Kari and I got hyper as we had been decorating for a very long time.  I walk away for a little bit and find her sitting in the box giggling, "I feel like a kid, look it's a doggy hole!"

Progress being made on Val's Texas sized Hershey bar (she free-handed this).

And for the finished product....

 It probably took Val around eight hours to do this.  I think we are going to keep it on our Texas wall.

 This was my execution!

 Our fireplace with pictures on the "mantle"

 If you can't tell, this is a chocolate fountain.  The sign tries to explain it, "please keep your fingers out of the chocolate fountain. Thank you"

The trivia game that Courtney made.  There were questions on the paper about chocolate.  There were Hershey bars throughout the wing that clues were printed on the back.  The winners are entered in a drawing for a prize.

Emily's nativity scene. 

 

 Cheryl and Leslee's Chocolate Cafe.  These were the only plants we could find in the building.  No one really knows what they are supposed to be.

The finished snowman. 

 Our cozy "home", complete with a mantle of pictures, stockings, a fire, Christmas tree (decorated with marshmallow garland and cocoa bags), a comfy chair, a red pair of slippers, and candy bars under the tree.

It is a lot of work, but the results are fun.  Sadly, I did not get pictures of the other wings.  Some of their themes were:

Christmas over the Border

Christmas in Space

Christmas on the Frontier

A Hollywood Christmas

Christmas throughout the World

Pirate Christmas

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my wing!  I hope you have a cozy and sweet Christmas!