Tuesday, November 25, 2008

It's that time of year... almost

We're through. We're done. It's finished. It is officially the Christmas season at our house. We decorated last night and had a gay (happy) ol' time. We strung the tree and adorned its branches with sparkling ornaments. White Christmas entertained us as we worked. Emma was a fantastic helper this year and I was really impressed with how well she did in her ornament placement on the tree. She has a real creative side and it was fun to watch her. Mandy had a good time too, toddling around smashing glass balls together. Miraculously none of my ornaments were broken in the reverie.






The girls dressed up in finery and my husband commented that this kind of fun was better than Christmas day. His comment was made from a chair as he read a tractor publication, but he was having a good time too.






I purchased the gold scarves at 90% off at an after-Christmas sale. I get a little giddy and illogical around fantastic deals and tend to purchase things I have no purpose for, like the gold scarfs. Emma and Mandy sure love them though.

I LOVE the Christmas tree! It is a big highlight for me. That is really the whole reason why I decorate so ridiculously early. It goes by so fast, so I figure I can enjoy it longer. Next year maybe I'll just decorate in October. My husband thinks I should leave all the decorations up all year -- it would save him some work (this comment was also made from behind the tractor publication).






The decorations on a Christmas tree tell a lot about a family. I like to have a tree that is color coordinated with white lights and garland. I try to keep to the red/gold theme, but I don't deny space on my tree for any ornament. Of course the really ugly ones get relegated to the back, but they are still there and I smile every year as I take them out of their storage tissue. I know some in my classy extended family reject ornaments that don't match, but I think they give the tree a homey feel.

That got me thinking... what do you think makes the perfect Christmas tree? 






I love to decorate the fireplace mantle as well. I am supremely blessed to have an electrical outlet in the middle of the wall perfect for plugging in my Christmas gift shaded lights (also 90% off from Joann Fabric). It is a little known fact that there is a niche in the middle of this wall that holds an electrical outlet. Strange, but true. It is about 18" square and 4" deep, so kind of small for the proportions of the wall, plus the fact that there is an ugly plug-in glaring out of the hole. I really wonder what the builder was thinking with that original little niche. Consequently, I have a picture hung over the top.

Besides the tree, I have some other decorations that I adore. Like my ivory nativity from Africa. Our first trip to Africa was over Christmas and I was incredibly sick with Malaria up until about Christmas Eve. Still I have fond memories of being in Mozambique and celebrating simply with Jeff's aunt, Janice. We got the nativity set on the second trip, also in December, and our friend the ivory carver went a little nuts and made tons of them out of ivory and wood. We purchased all that he made and gave them away for gifts when we returned home. I don't know how our friends and family feel about the slightly odd looking Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, but we are really fond of them.







I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet and you may be rolling your eyes at my early decorating frenzy, but please indulge my celebratory spirit. What decorations do you love at Christmas? And I am also looking forward to hearing what your perfect Christmas tree looks like. :)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I want to be home!!! There is nothing like being home at the holidays for Christmas. Your tree looks beautiful. One of my favorite things is my mom's random collection of Christmas pot holders. (yes...very random) But she hangs them up and it is way fun and we always buy her more every year...I have a feeling I might steal her idea...

Love ya girl. Enjoy your thanksgiving...

Cooking with Big E said...

I LOVE decorating the Christmas tree! We will probably wait a bit to get our tree but it will be decorated to the hilt with the oddest assortment of ornaments you can find. My husband had quite the collection before we were married and our tastes are different but it all goes on the tree anyways. Consequently we have wrestling Santa Clauses next to my blown glass teacups and handknit ornaments my great grandmother made next to a clay ornament David's cousin made for him in 1985. We love and celebrate our eclectic tree that allows us to indulge in whatever ornament suits our fancy. I'm the one that brings a little glitz (a tree without some sparkly ornaments is no tree at all in my opinion) and my husband brings the humor. I'll go ahead and admit that we have more then one big box of ornaments and a few are too fragile to go on the tree and a few don't make it on (do we *really* need to put up my husband's "four" ornament from when he was four years old?). I will be decorating the house as soon as we get home from my Mom's this weekend.

Anonymous said...

The electrical outlet above the mantle was more common than you think. Typically it was covered/hidden by a mantle clock put in front of the electrical outlet.

Stephanie said...

(thanks for dropping by my blog.) I LOVE Christmas time. We decorate right after Thanksgiving. My favorite thing is the Nativity sets. I can't wait until my kids are a little older so that I can put them everywhere and not worry about death by toddlers. We did already put our tree up even though we haven't decorated it yet. Just seeing it makes me feel cozy. :)

Lindsay said...

I always dreamed of a tree decorated in white lights and all white ornaments. But I gave up that dream for a collection of mish-mash ornaments that have meaning behind them :) We are getting so many ornaments that the boys decorate a smaller tree in their bedroom.

We aren't getting the tree til next weekend but decorations will come out right after Tanksgiving. I really like the lights on your mantel. Everything looks so pretty!

Anonymous said...

I love your tree! We get ours Friday. I have angel ornaments (one from each year growing up). Trenton has trains. Livia has snowflakes. I think we decided Carson will have bears. Nathan has quite a Charlie Brown collection. White lights. I say that it looks like Christmas threw up all ornaments all over tree. I know...great description. :P Kelsey

Sara said...

I'm like you - I like a basic color theme, but ornaments that have special meaning must be included whether they match or not. Our tree is basically blue and silver with white lights. I have lots of snowmen ornaments (because I'm a sucker for adorable little snowmen), and some snowflakes and icicles to add coherency to the whole tree. But we also have ornaments from our travels, gifts from family and friends, and I'm sure Abby and baby-to-come will be adding ornaments to the tree over the years. =)

My goal is to decorate right after Thanksgiving, but it often gets put off. Part of the problem is that I have way too many decorations, so the whole process is overwhelming. I love the finished product (nothing like candles glowing, snowmen smiling, and the smell of pine branches to bring some Christmas cheer), but I don't really enjoy the actual decorating process. Good for you for getting it all done already! I, too, like to enjoy the decorations for a long time, but since I usually get mine put up later than I want, I end up leaving them up later than most people think is respectable. ;o)

Cathy said...

I would love to have a tree in our family room all in red, but our tree that we decorate every year gets adorned with ornaments that have some special memory for us. We add to it every year, whether it be a first Christmas for a baby, commemorating a big trip, or some sweet but homely little ditty that the kids made in school. Remembering the memories as we unwrap the ornaments from their boxes is the best part of decorating for us! We'll be doing it hopefully this week! Your tree and mantle decorations are beautiful!

simplykersh said...

We wait to do anything until Heidi's birthday, the 16th, that way she still can have birthday decorations up, though we usually do a Christmas activity at her parties. This year we will get it a little early because we are having her party the week before and we have usually go get a tree right after all of the guests have left her party. As far as ornaments go, most are eatable. They don't necessarily taste good, just safe for the kiddos and all the cats.