Welcome, Christmas!

A welcoming wreath on the front door, in my favorite colors!

I actually got my house decorated and the tree put up yesterday, a full three weeks before Christmas day! Okay, okay, I know many of you got your trees up long ago, some even before Thanksgiving (Elyssa), but this is quite an accomplishment for me. You see, for the last two Christmases, I did only the barest minimum of decorating and waited until the last minute to put up my still-new, tiny, fake tree.

Jingle bells hung on the front door.

One of the problems is that I simply can't bring myself to decorate a room that is dusty or otherwise cluttered or disorganized. It must be deep-cleaned before it can be made festive. And the last two winters were tough ones, filled with knee/hip/back pain, illness, and stress, all of which make it difficult for me to function well. Which is the reason I finally gave in and bought a nice but fake, easy-to-handle, three-foot Christmas tree, after decades of searching for and cutting our own six-foot trees in the nearby forests. At some point you just have to give in and cry "Uncle!"

Christmas lights up the living room at bedtime. The lights Dylan hung

around the living room ceiling years ago are still in place.

With our empty nest, my house is generally clean and organized most of the time, so the main problem was layers of dust on every surface. Thankfully, Mark was a big help this year. He fetched and carried and did the heavy lifting while I dusted the cabinets, rearranged curios, emptied shelves, and set up decorations. It literally took about six hours to do just the living room (when I clean, I really clean). By evening, I ached all over. But it was a great feeling to see the end result.

Most of the decorations go on these shelves every year.

So, behold the fruits of our labors. I'm sure I've posted pictures of these decorations many times over the years, but I admit, I truly enjoy looking at them, remembering the meanings and memories behind each piece. It reminds me that Christmas isn't only in the music or movies or stores or even church services. 

Christmas is in our homes and in our hearts.

My newest and most favorite Nativity is this one by Susan Lordi 

as part of her Willow Tree Collection.

First, the Nativities...

My very first Nativity was this hand-painted Mexican version,

which I purchased in Nogales, Mexico, back in the 1980s.

Mark gave me the Christus statue replica, on the left, last Christmas.
(The Christus remains on the shelf  with the temple etching all year long.)

The Holy Family on the right was a gift from my son, Jacob.

The "Christmas in a Nutshell" and clothespin angel were handmade

for me by my sister-in-law, Dana.

Then, the whimsical...

Characters from Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer--Sam the Snowman,

Santa, Clarice, Yukon Cornelius, Rudolph, Bumble the Abominable Snow

Monster, and Hermey the Misfit Elf--wander in my Christmas-tree forest.

I add new and different types of trees and gift boxes almost every year.

And, finally, the small touches.

I added the snowman to the lighthouse on the top shelf, and

the Christmas-colored cloth coasters and metal shadow-box

to the scarf-wearing bear and ceramic Christmas tree on the bottom.

The bear and tree sit on the shelf all year, but I only light the tree

at Christmas. It's a replica of a ceramic tree hand-painted by Mark's grandma.

May your homes and hearts be filled with the warmth and spirit of Christmas, and with the love, laughter, and sharing of family and friends throughout this season!