Christmas Decorating

It seems I didn't get time to enjoy Christmas BEFORE Christmas, so I'm catching up now.  I love, love, love my house all decorated for Christmas.  It seemed I didn't have it decorated very long this year.  I'd like to share some of my Christmas decorations with you......(Picture heavy post with pictures not so great.)

I decided to change up a few things this year starting with the mantle.  Usually the stockings are hung here.

On the mantle this year is the ceramic nativity set made by my grandma in the 70's.

It is beautiful although several animals have lost their ears, and some of the ornate jewelry she used has come off.

I also have the Willow Tree Nativity that sits on the shelf with my other Willow Tree angels.

                                               The stockings were hung here this year:

I love Christmas trees.  I try to put at least one tree in each room of the house. They are various sizes.

The tree on the left is the only real live tree in the house.  It is our main tree.  I changed the decorations on it this year.  After years of the girls complaining about how I decorated the tree they told me the liked the old way better. (sigh)  The tree on the right is a 4 foot tree.  It is our "Frozen" tree, decorated with Frozen ribbon, tags, and snowflakes.  The four/five year old grandkids helped me decorate it.

The snowman tree is my new tree this year.  It is 7 1/2 feet tall and I put him in the sunroom.  He will stay up with my snowman decorations for the winter months.  The tree on the right is our family Christmas photo tree.  It is about 5 feet tall and sets in the foyer.

 The photo on the left really doesn't do this tree justice.  It is a 7 foot tall frosted pencil tree.  This year it held our beloved ornaments and had it's home in the downstairs bedroom.  The tree on the right is a small tree that sits on the counter between the kitchen and the living room.  We made and decorated the box many moons ago.

 The tree on the left is my prim tree.  The ornaments are homemade cinnamon ornaments, homemade tags, and wooden candy canes.  It sits in the dining room.  And the bathroom gets its own small tree too!

 Upstairs we have a 4 foot tree in our bedroom decorated simply with red and gold ornaments and gold garland.  The first landing on the steps hold the bubble light tree.  It is actually a trio of trees.  The bubble lights are a favorite of Bud's.  The tree on the right is my Christmas plaid tree.  It is decorated with plaid ribbon and red and gold ornaments.  It sets in the guest bedroom.

The basement also has trees, but I only got a photo of one--the Hawkeye tree in the Man Cave. It is decorated with multi colored lights which Bud prefers, black and gold ornaments, black beads, and some Hawkeye memorabilia.

Below are a few of our beloved ornaments.  The one on the left was made by my grandmother in the late 60s as she was spending time at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.  On the right are two examples of ornaments that we pick up when we travel.

 I also collect santas!  I have a few.....The one on the left stands next to our main tree. He is the tallest at a little over 5 feet.  He has such a sweet smile!  The top right santa wins the prize for biggest beard.  He stands just a little over 2 feet tall.  The bottom right Santa will greet you just inside the foyer/  He is my woodsman santa and is about 3 1/2 feet tall.

This santa will sing you a Christmas song as you pass by.  He stands about 5 feet tall and graced the front porch the night of our Christmas party.  The top and bottom right are my quilt santas, and the middle santa is my Polar Express santa.

This is a gorgeous photo of Santa given to me by my sister.  Whoops!  There's a tree I missed.  This one is ceramic and made by my grandma.  The base has cracked, but I handle it with kids gloves and hope one of my kids will cherish it someday.  The top santa is my glitzy santa.  He is only about 14" tall.  The bottom santa is a favorite with the grandkids.  If they push a button he snores loudly and his tummy goes up and down.  They think he sounds like grandpa!

Even the beds get decorated.  (But I only got one photo.)

 And various other places to put decorations...........antique paper decorations.....

 on the sewing machine......

 top of the hutch......

 top of the fridge.....(More ceramics made by grandma)

 And my favorite Christmas books......

I hope you've enjoyed the little tour of the inside of our home all decorated for Christmas.  Sadly it is all put away now, but the snowman decorations are now up to enjoy.

Until Christmas 2015.........

Book Club Christmas Celebration

Back in the middle of December I hosted my book club(Booker Babes) meeting for the month.  I made Chicken Cordon Bleu (tutorial coming soon)and Party Potatoes, while everyone else contributed a dish to share.  I always struggle to put together a nice tablescape.  It just isn't my thing, I guess.  But this one was passable, especially with the candle lit and the lights turned low! (I WILL have something other than white tables clothes to choose from next year)

Everyone was asked to bring an ornament in a brown paper bag to give away, an ornament they cherish so they could share their story, and to incorporate an ornament into their outfit WITHOUT it being their necklace!  Yes, sometimes they just aren't creative and you need to nudge them into thinking outside the box!  Jackie certainly won the prize for being creative.  She had blinking lights around her red hat.  She also had a strand of lights as a belt.  Great job, Jackie!

We also collected money to sponsor a family for Christmas.  Since Trina works for Big Brothers Big Sisters I am always well aware of some of the needs of the families and thought that would be a great idea for us.

Everyone left with a little gift I made.  Travel tissue cozies.  I found the pattern here, and I made many of them as Christmas gifts.

Good food, good conversation, & good friends---what could be better than that?

Christmas at My House

I hosted our Christmas gathering for my book club tonight, so I guess my house is as decorated as it is going to get.  I thought I would share a few photos.  I love the house all dressed up for Christmas!

This is our main, and only real, tree.  It is in the family room.  We always get a Frazier Fir.  The tree is decorated with an eclectic array of ornaments, berries, and raffia.  And this year it has The Holiday Express running around the base.

Some of the ornaments represent places we have visited, like this one of the Empire State Building in New York City.

Or they might represent a time in our life, like this

ceramic ornament that I painted way back in the day when we didn't have much money and only had one child.

The fireplace is also in the family room.  It is flanked by three small trees with lights that I have placed in crocks, a lighted wreath, greenery with lights and berries across the top, and several santas and a snowman.  Everyone has a stocking hanging above the fireplace.  I started with making these stockings for my four kids when they were young.  That's all we had for many years.  Mike was the first to join our family and he had to wait about eight years for  one!  I just made them for Bud and me last year!  But, right now everyone has one, even our newest addition, Chance.

I hope you've enjoyed this little peak of Christmas in our home.  Come back tomorrow for more!