Show Me Christmas

Last week I got an exciting phone call from my eldest daughter. She and my son-in-law are expecting their first child! Not only is it their first child, it is also my first grandchild. I realize it’s a little soon, but I’m so happy that I already started buying items for my granddaughter or grandson-to-be.

My daughter has decided that she doesn’t want to know the gender of the baby, so everything I’ve bought so far is gender neutral. This hasn’t been too difficult, particularly for items like babys first Christmas ornament. After my grandchild arrives I can spoil him or her with adorable gender appropriate outfits and accessories.

Growing up, I always had the opportunity to decorate two Christmas trees. One in my own home and one in the home of my best friend who lived around the corner. It was such fun to see the different traditions my friend’s family observed.

You see, my friend was raised in a Greek Orthodox household. Her mother and her maternal grandparents, who also lived in the house, emigrated from Greece in the 1960s. It was important for them to carry on their traditions in this new country. I think explaining to me, as we trimmed the tree, the significance behind various Greek Christmas ornaments they’d brought with them gave my friend’s parents and grandparents a lot of joy.

My daughter just graduated college in May, and much to our astonishment she was hired for a job in her field within a few weeks of leaving academia. It was a cause for much celebration in our family, but we had to cope with the fact that she would be leaving the house and living thousands of miles away on the East Coast. We continue to talk on the phone several times on the week, and she recently informed me that she won’t be making it home for Christmas.

I immediately felt awful because she won’t be able to spend the holidays with her father and I – or the extended family members that only get to see her once a year, if that. Still, there was no getting around it. She had to work every day except Christmas itself, which made traveling impossible. In an effort to cheer her up, I purchased a holiday gift basket online filled with handmade Christmas ornaments. I’ll be sending it just before Christmas so that it arrives at her door just when she needs it most.

Creating hand blown glass figurines is a delicate process, but product is a spectacular and often affordable item for display. When it comes to hand blown glass, the smaller, more detailed figurines tend to be cheaper. Small angel or cherub figurines are great for appreciating at home, or using on sacred occasions like weddings as table ornaments or cake decorations.

Although larger hand blown Christmas ornaments made of glass figurines are more expensive, their exquisiteness can bring attention to an otherwise dull room, especially if it’s a unique creation. are often treasured as rare artwork, and sometimes the value of a spun glass sculpture can match that of a classic art piece.

For many families, decorating for Christmas is one of the best bonding experiences to come around all year. Dressing the evergreen tree with elaborate ornaments – both stores bought and homemade – is an activity that brings back happy memories from another place and time. In some neighborhoods, the competitive spirit of the season manifests itself through exterior decorations.

Electrical bills rise exponentially as rival households try to outdo each other by offering onlookers the most spectacular display of lights for the Christmas tree ornaments. Thanks to the advent of solar string lights, it’s no longer necessary to use dangerous extension cords or to place lights in close proximity to electrical outlets. Solar power cuts electrical costs and provides decorators with even more creative freedom than they thought possible.

When people think of snowmen, they almost always think of Christmas or winter decor. But that’s not necessarily the case. The adorable and innocent appeal of snowmen can be used to decorate and accent your home any time of the year. To that end, look into as the perfect addition to your other entire holiday decor. Look around, and you’re sure to find snowmen that are perfect for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, and all other major holidays.

These dolls also make great collectible Christmas ornaments as well as gifts. For example, if your kid wants to give their teacher a gift on the last day of class, have them take a twist on the standard teacher gift of an apple. Rather, have your kid give them a teacher-themed snowman doll. Snowmen make surprisingly versatile decorative tools, and it will certainly be something that the teacher can cherish for years to come.

In a recent post I described a few of my favorite holiday traditions – the ones that have been performed with ritualistic regularity at my home for years. While decorating the house with Christmas lights and driving to a rural tree farm to select the perfect fir tree are fun activities in their own right, my heart has always been in the kitchen. The holidays are a great time to bond with family members while serving up some cherished Christmas delicacies.

While many people like to make gingerbread cookies or flavored rock candy, my tastes tend toward molded German chocolate. I use Longaberger pottery Angel of Hope cookie molds to shape the chocolate, and then I put the delicious morsels in individual plastic wrap and tie the whole thing with a seasonal bow. By now my friends and distant relations have come to expect a chocolaty gift whenever I drop by to see them in December. My friends say that it is my own form of German Christmas ornaments, but with cookies.

For many families, decorating for Christmas is one of the best bonding experiences to come around all year. Dressing the evergreen tree with elaborate ornaments – both store bought and homemade – is an activity that brings back happy memories from another place and time.

Hands blown Christmas ornaments are a great way to decorate your mantle for the holidays. With a well decorated mantel, the homeowner expresses their own individual tastes and personal ambitions to the world. There’s no reason not to have a well-decorated mantel, and homeowners shouldn’t be afraid to purchase all kinds of ornaments and express themselves through their home!

It’s been said that the hearth is the most important part of the home, and when it comes to decorating the hearth, it’s good to have an idea of what kinds of objects represent individual tastes. For example, a wood mantel clock is a classic piece to have on a mantel above the hearth. Most traditional mantel clocks have a wide face, and some also ring or sound on the hour and half-hour.

Photo albums are another great piece to have set atop the mantel, though in the last decade, digital photo frames have become a more practical option. Other mantel ornaments include ceramics, statuettes, figurines, and art. With a well decorated mantel, the homeowner expresses their own individual tastes and personal ambitions to the world. There’s no reason not to have a well-decorated mantel, and homeowners shouldn’t be afraid to purchase all kinds of polish ornaments and express themselves through their home!