‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse…well I WISH that was true…we’ve been having a small territory dispute with mice recently. Apparently our house is very welcoming. Anyway, I thought in honor of the Christmas Holiday, I’d give you a very brief tour of our Christmas decorations. We’ve downsized our decorating the last few years as I’ve spent so much of early December doing holiday decorating for OTHER people, but even though I do less holiday decor at home than I used to…there was an era when we had 6 decorated Christmas trees in our house (?!), I still enjoy the process. And nothing salvages the shorter days of the winter solstice like having a touch of Christmas cheer around the house! This year I’m delighted I got it up in time to enjoy it a little bit! I even have all my gifts wrapped before Christmas Eve - that is a first for me!
I shared some of our outdoor decor earlier, but it snowed and made it SOOO pretty!
I always like to add garland to the stair rail - it is the first thing you see when you come in the front door. In years past I have also hung a decorated kissing ball from the chandelier just over the railing, but I’m trying to simplify lately, so I’ve skipped that. If someone wonderful appears in my life that warrants reinstating a “kissing ball”, I might reconsider…
Our main tree is always decorated in neutrals of gold, silver, and white to go with the pastel colors in our room decor. Our ornaments have been collected or gifted to us over the years and tend to fall into categories of the themes we love - music, tea and cooking, decor, and birds. With two professional musicians in the house, music is a given! My eternal love for tea, cooking, and backyard birds have yielded a lot of our ornaments as well, and of course, some we have collected on our travels.
One of the first decorations to go up is always the nativity set. The kids are finally grown and do a good job setting it up…I confess to rearranging it for years after they went to bed LOL! And I noticed for the first time this year that the sheep is practically the same size as the donkey…hmmm.
The other thing that always goes up early and hangs on the knob of the hand painted armoire in the living room is this counted cross stitch stocking that my Mom made for my daughter when she was born - one of the perks of being the first grandchild :)
The dining room gets a lighted wreath on the window with, again, a musical theme including a large horn and more of the sheet music birds and leaves. Nutcrackers and greenery peek out of the stockings hanging on the china cabinet.
The kitchen table got treated to a boxwood tree sporting carved animal ornaments from Kenya, and our nutcracker baking muses perch on the kitchen chandelier.
And much baking ensued…these gingerbread cakes are as delicious as they are adorable!
The second Christmas tree goes in my master bedroom. My bedroom is my retreat, my sanctuary, and occasionally my home office…I love having a tree in there! It is, of course, beribboned in my favorite teal peacock ribbon with silver, gold, and white and features nests and eggs and more bird-themed ornaments along with a few Victorian angels for good measure. I also love that paper maché drum holder - I’ve been putting my tree in it for years…long before it was cool to containerize you Christmas tree!
This olivewood carved creche was a gift from my parents brought back from their travels
The Christmas Eve table all set for the annual Christmas cracker tradition
We’ll be missing family gathered around our table and the love and laughter of Christmas Eve brunch this year, but in spite of all the losses, I’m grateful for so many things. And we have a new year approaching and new precious memories yet to make.
