When I worked at the retirement village, part of my job required me to to be in charge of the majority of the Christmas decorations. They always called it "The Hanging of the Greens." It was always quite an event--around 50 trees needing to be decorated all with different themes. The shopping was always fun but the distribution, set up and decoration of 50 Christmas trees (with volunteer help from the residents) would always leave me not very excited to decorate my own tree. Its been quite a few years since then and although I still very vividly remember how raw my arms would be from fluffing all those artificial branches, I'm back to loving decorating our home for Christmas.In our little bungalow, a little bit of decorating goes a long way, so I like to think a lot of decorating makes it a little winter wonderland! :)
Just like most families, our tree is filled with ornaments that bring back special memories. Some of our most precious ornaments are the ones that Joel's Grammy made 30-40 years ago . She was one of the best crafters I've ever seen and every year I'm still amazed at the quality of these nostalgic ornaments. I love their vintage fabrics and attention to detail. What a treasure they are!
One of our traditions is to get the girls a new ornament every Christmas that has something to do with that year. No surprise, here is Tess' Cinderella ornament:
Gracie Rose was a little harder to decide on. I started doing some searching and when I saw this one I knew it was the one. Mischievous grin, no clothes, riding on a reindeer--PERFECT!
Every year Joel's mom makes a new Christmas plate for all the family. Here is the collection of plates with some of our special Santas.
Paper snowflakes and painted windows.
Here is some of our home-made gifts going out to friends.
Don't be deceived by our "Winter Wonderland", we are definitely trying to keep this a low key Christmas. Home-made gifts for friends, forgoing gifts for each other and some family to instead focus on the gift of creating memories, and just enjoying our time together as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.May this season leave you those precious gifts as well.
2 comments:
This is beautiful! You have quite the decorating flair! I love this time of year...the house feels so warm and cozy and we really grab the opportunity to make things extra special. Merry Christmas!
Looks like fun at your house! And I loved your last post too (I'm just a bit behind on commenting so I thought I'd to it here :) ... Your girls are so sweet. Often I look at my kids and try, as everyone says to do, to savor the moment knowing that there will be those moments ahead when these memories will help us get through :)
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