Christmas Decorating

On Thursday I got the house decorated for Christmas. We purchase a tree each year, so that will get put up in the next week. You’ll see that I succumbed to temptation and I no longer have a “biblically correct” nativity scene … but I truly have a beautiful one. You may recall (or click on this link if you don’t remember) that Mary and I went to see a multitude of nativity scenes last year. It was a beautiful display of hundreds of nativity sets from art pieces to one’s made by children and sets from around the world. But I still like mine best of all. My Mom bought it for us long before I believed in Jesus. It was made by crafters from southern SK.

I call this “Mary’s Corner.” When I was a child my Mom bought my Grandma and Grandpa a flower arrangement and the Blessed Virgin Mary was the centre-piece. At some point in time my Mom got “Mary” back and she was always on display at Christmas. And then I inherited Mary … I probably asked for her. A few years ago I improved her “dignity” by purchasing some lovely silk flowers to cover her styrofoam base. The garland around the “secretary” has a string of lights on it plus extra ‘picks’ to fill it out. The candles on each side were made by Rhett in Grade 1 and Grade 2 respectively. This is my “solemn” display section.

Here’s the dining room. Fairly simple. I have the Christmas Village that Rhett gave me up on top of the hutch. It seems too far away but it looks wonderful when it’s lit up. I like the silk pointsettias on the shelf and then a few items on the buffet. In the foreground you can see the advent candles. A friend and I made these lovely candle/wreaths as a craft project with the youth one year at church. Okay … if I would have been smart I would have cleaned the dining room table off, but those are bags of peanuts … treats for the holiday season. Of course, over on the chair is my popcorn maker that needs to be “always at the ready!”

As some of you may know … I have a “thing” for tea pots. Emily and Doug gave me this tea pot a few years ago. It is so cute that I had to take a photo to share with you. I also love the mugs and plates that I received in a gift exchange/swap. The Santa Claus cookie jar isn’t in the photo. I bought some cookies the other night, but Doug baked some cookies today! I can’t believe that I don’t know anyone who’ll give me homemade fruit cake, but Doug and I love fruit cake, so we’ll have to go out and buy some soon. Great to have with tea!

I had to move a few pieces of furniture around to accomodate the tree when it comes. So now the bookcase is where the desk usually is. Here you’ll see some sentimental favourites. The green ceramic tree lights up and it was Doug’s Mom’s forever. The three Christmas carollers are an antique. My Great Uncle Fred gave it to my parents … maybe before I was born. (So I guess it’s not so old after all!) The gold reindeer was given to my Mom by Gordon & Dyanne and I received it when we were closing down Mom’s house. The photo above the bookcase is one that we recently got framed. Emily brought it back from Ghana and the scene is reminiscent of what she experienced.

And here’s a photo of the basement. The stockings were hung by the video cabinet with care … in hopes that St. Nick soon would be there! A number of sentimental favourites are on top of the TV cabinet. Rhett – Do you see the mirror at the end of the DVD/CD rack? That’s the mirror I brought for you and Leah from Mom’s house.