Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Here's what I can do with tinsel and lights

Close up of my sons' nativity


This entry is more of a photo album rather than a typical blog.  I thought I would take pictures of my house decorated for Christmas and share them here.  I can give much better descriptions here than an album on social media.  First, let me say I am not an opulent decorator.  I have visions of thick garlands of fresh greenery draped in graceful swags down my banister and in my window sills.  I imagine the front of my house dripping in twinkle lights leading all the way up and back down our curved driveway.  The perfect décor would include wreaths with festive bows for each of the eight windows of the front of my house.  Well, the thing is decorations such as these require cash and this time of year I need that cash to flow into other more important things, like ingredients for fudge. So instead I just go with what I have.  I have a mish-mash of things collected over the years plus sentimental pieces that I want to see each year.  That being said, come on a short tour of my home and see my Christmas decorations the way they are, not the romantic way I imagine them to be.

Come on in.  First stop is the wreath on the front door; just one small wreath not eight with bows.  I wrapped the wreath with a strand of battery-operated lights that are still using the same batteries from last year.  They are dim, but I refuse to change them until they die completely. Battery money equals a bag of chocolate chips.


The past few years I've put out two small lighted trees on each side of the door but they always blow over in the wind.  This year I opted for something a little different.  An umbrella holder with twigs, red tinsel garland and pink lights take the places of the little trees.  I like it.  It reminds me of embers in a fireplace.


I put my main Christmas tree in my foyer.  I like the way it looks at night when I'm outside looking in.  I always judge Christmas decorations on how they look from the outside.  There is nothing sentimental about this tree.  I just like the colors so I load them on.

Too many glass ornaments?  Baskets can be good, especially one that looks like a golden reindeer.

I never have a consistent theme to my decorating.  My artist cousin would not be pleased.  The theme of inconsistency goes back again to cash flow.  Keep this in mind as you look at how I decorated the top of my piano.  All that really matters to me are the lights, even that lone pink one.  I made the ceramic nativity the center because my niece gave it to me because she knew I wanted it.  That's the best kind of present, having someone pay attention.  The forest is for my cat.  She likes to sleep in it.

Here's a view of the whole room from the other angle.

I've collected a lot of little things over the years.  This seemed to be the best place to display some of them.  This is also the home of my internet connection, so just pretend the blue and green blinking lights are there on purpose.

Looking into the dining room, my favorite room in my house.

It is in here I display my children's nativity set.  Their Aunt R started it for them when my oldest was born.  This is twenty years worth of pieces.  I was going to put it on the piano this year but my cat gave me an ugly look when she tried to snuggle in it.  She missed her trees.  So I moved it back to the top of my china cabinet; it's really the ideal place.  I know there wasn't gold star-studded garland and twinkle lights in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, but it does exist in 2013 and I have proof of it.  Lots of proof.

How about this glass bottle full of lights?  Good idea, yes?  It's plugged into the other lights on top of the cabinet so one switch is all I need to flip for glowing goodness.

My latest happy is color changing lights.  I love the way they turn from green to red to pink to gold to blue, and on and on.  The star in this frame is the star my parents had on their tree every year.  It was a wedding present, I think.  I remember when I was little I couldn't wait for Daddy to set it on top of the tree. He made it feel so important.

During the wintertime my dining room light fixture becomes a crystal chandelier.  I'll take them down before Easter.
Another relic from my childhood Christmas is this nativity set.  It always sat under our Christmas tree with a light bulb stuck through the back to light it.  It is getting so fragile now I am afraid to move it too many times. 


My mother gave me the snow-globe nativity many years ago.  I never pack it away, but during Christmas I bring it out front and center.  It's one of my favorite pieces.

Here are some angels because what is Christmas without angels?


Moving into the kitchen now, but first a quick stop in the butler's pantry.  We don't have a butler, but if we did we would keep him in here and he would keep all his butler stuff in the cabinetry.  But since we don't have a butler I change out the trinkets on the counter top to reflect the season.  It's also a good place to stuff junk when I'm trying to clean up.  I cleared it of junk in the spirit of the season and made it look like something a butler would enjoy.

Now for the kitchen.  A few years ago I decided to start a tree in here.  This year I got a white tree and wondered why I've never had a white tree before now.  It is truly glorious.  It is the sentimental tree of the house.  It is loaded with the ornaments I've given my children each year.  My oldest has 20 on it and my youngest has 16.  It also has some of the ones they made in elementary school and ones given to them by others.  I added extra things to make it look full and more colorful.  I am very happy with it.

My kitchen windowsill is another place to display those little things I've collected over the years and given to me as happys.  The Santa candleholders were in a box of miscellaneous junk I won at an auction.  They were the best treasure in the box.  Let's not talk about how much they ended up costing.  Auctions are dangerous places.  Fevers spread at them, or so I've heard.

I got the little guy on the end this year.  He said, "buy me."  I swear.  He guards the money my mother leaves me.  The same artist designed the box with the wise men.  No, they don't come out of the box (they got no legs, shhh).

This is one of my favorites, a gift from my father-in-law and his wife.  There are six of them and a golden egg.  Get it?

I found this chair in my Daddy's childhood home.  It's handmade and rickety.  I brought it home and put it in my son's nursery when he was a baby.  It sat under a limb covered with twinkle lights.  I told him it was Grandpa's chair and he could come and sit in it and watch over him.  He was just a baby, he wasn't scared.  Now Grandpa's chair is in my kitchen so he always has a special place to sit, that is if he can get the cat to move.  Santa, a gift from my oldest friend and traveling partner is sitting on it now.  Instead of twinkle lights on a limb I have twinkle lights in a glass bottle.  I'm telling you, put some lights in a bottle and you will be happy for days.

When my children were little my mother-in-law gave me this cookie jar with a book about this particular Santa.  It's great, and he comes out every year.  I don't know where the book is, but hopefully it is safe on my son's bookshelf.  I'm afraid to look, so I'm going to say, yes, it is.

Last but not nearly least are our stockings; one for each of us.  My sister, the middle child, made one for my husband and me for our wedding.  Then she made one for each child when they were born.  She's made them for all of the nieces and nephews and now her newborn grandson has one too.  She's just good like that.  I don't have a fireplace so I have to hang them off of the stairs.  Notice the garland on the banister?  Right, there is none.  Instead I put a cool stand of lights and shiny things in the corner.  Lights, lights, and more lights.  They make me happy.


Well, that's all there is this year.  I had dreams of wrapping trees out back with lights so I could see them from my kitchen, but that didn't happen.  Even though my decorations are a jumbled patchwork goulash (Thesaurus words) I like it.  My house feels homey and warm, a place to welcome friends and family.  I hope you've enjoyed it, too.  Merry Christmas!

1 comment:

  1. It's lovely, Elizabeth, and I'm jealous. I haven't gotten around to doing any decorating, yet. Gotta get rid of clutter, first. The weather weenies are predicting a snow storm this weekend, so maybe then would be a good time to clear stuff out and bring up some Nutcrackers and St. Nicks from the basement.
    I have a garland to put on my stairs. Years ago I wound two silk garlands together, stuck a few natural looking decorations on it, and wound it with lights. I just wrap it on the railing each year, and that's all it needs. Makes me smile when I look over and see the lights shining softly in the dark foyer.

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