Show Me Christmas

Even though Christmas is almost a year away, it is never too soon to start making preparing for the holiday season. Here are some helpful pointers for decorating next holiday.  First off would be to hang some Christmas lights outside the house. This way, even your neighbors will be in a festive mood. Next is to find the perfect Christmas tree. It could be a real pine tree or you can choose a store-bought one.

Think of a theme for this year’s Christmas decor. You can adorn your tree with angel ornaments or blown glass Christmas ornaments. Or perhaps you choose to layer your tree with icicles and ribbons. To complete the look of your home, hang a Christmas tapestry on a wall. Now you’re all set for the holidays!

It can seem like you’re in a rush to do a hundred things all at the same time when you’re preparing for holiday guests. To make your party or gathering seem manageable, consider taking the time to plan out what you need to get done each day. Start bringing out your holiday décor early, and clear off tables, shelves, and mantles where you intend to display it in advance. If you happen to have kids and think they are careful enough to handle your Polish ornaments, allow them to help placing them around the house. This will help save you time and give them something to do.

Once you’ve finished decorating, you will want to do things like food preparation and lighting candles closer to last minute, but be prepared with recipes and matches.  Organizing your schedule will keep you from going mad under all the pressure!

Each Christmas I look forward to decorating the tree with my family. We always pick out a big Douglas fir and decorate it about two weeks before the holiday with our vast collection of Christmas tree ornaments. My family has so many decorations; it’s hard to get them organized. It usually takes my brother and me more than an hour to carry the bulky boxes of holiday decorations downstairs.

After we get the boxes into the living room we like to go through them one by one. It usually takes a while because we always find little treasures from the past. The ornament I made in third grade from a blown-out eggshell or the funny picture of my brother when his front teeth were missing. After we get done unpacking the ornaments we like to sit on the couch together and gaze at our beautiful tree and wondrous Christmas home décor.

Candy Hearts

Nothing says ‘Be Mine’ like the gift of candy hearts. 

But the gift of handblown glass candy hearts imported from Poland will continue to say ‘Be Mine’ for years to come so be sure to give your VALENTINE the gift that keeps on giving.

Heart with Gold Vines

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.  Make that box of chocolates SHINE with a decorative hand blown glass heart tied in with the bow. 

After the chocolates are long gone, the handblown glass heart will remain as a reminder of that special day and be a great collectible to cherish for years to come.

The holiday season is about togetherness, giving, appreciating ones family and friends, and being thankful.  The Christmas tree is a central part of the Christmas, and as such should become an important part of family tradition.  Giving children, spouses, or loved ones a new ornament every year provides a way for families to reminisce about years past, and also to look forward to adding to the tree each year. Christmas ornaments should not only serve as aesthetically pleasing objects, but as reminders of Christmases past and objects which celebrate Christmases to come.

Kids will love getting their new ornament each year; try purchasing something unique each year that will remind them of that year in particular. For example, if your son can’t get enough of Bob the Builder at age four, purchase a Bob the Builder ornament to serve as a reminder of that phase in their life. My husband and I have more sophisticated tastes and always buy each other handblown glass ornaments at Christmas time.

Twelve Days of Christmas

One of the best ways to spread the Christmas spirit is by decorating the Christmas tree. Christmas ornaments and Christmas lights are always guaranteed to brighten every living room. Hand crafted Christmas ornaments with a Santa water-color painting inside or nativity scene will be beautiful additions to your tree.

Every Christmas ornament usually represents a personal Christmas story to tell. Let each member of the family remember a story that can be shared to everyone. A Christmas ornament inherited from grandparents can serve to inspire and remind everyone in your family about the value of sharing and giving.

Wedding Set

According to the old German tradition, the tree of a newlywed couple should include these twelve ornaments to insure blessings and happiness for their life together.

This wedding set of twelve  are hand blown and hand painted in Germany and make a wonderful gift for the newlywed couple or a lovely and unusual wedding or shower gift.

Each ornament will make a lovely keepsake for that new couple as they begin their life together and the start of a beautiful collection of Christmas ornaments.

When I was little, decorating the Christmas tree was always a family affair. My dad would start by stringing the lights, which was always made more difficult by my mom complaining about his placement and my little siblings impatiently trying to put their ornaments on the tree. Once he was done, everyone in the family would put up the generic ornaments first, and then move on to their personal collections.

My brother, sister and I each had a set of collectible Christmas ornaments, and were designated a special spot of the tree to exhibit are keepsakes. My collection included a wide line of NFL quarterbacks and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while my brother had Power Rangers and Pokémon. My sister naturally had more feminine decorations, like Barbie and Hello Kitty.

After visiting countless homes during the Christmas season, I have been able to distinguish two distinct types of trees. The technique that a family uses in decorating the tree will give you some insight into their personalities and create a distinctive ambiance in their abode. I have taken the liberty of coming up with my own terminology to define the two types of trees: formal and playful.

Formal Christmas trees are characterized by an overt theme, such as a consistent color or uniform ornaments. These trees are usually exclusively decorated by adults and show little childhood light-heartedness. Playful trees, on the other hand, don colorful lighting and whimsical ornaments. Growing up we always had a playful tree, and my siblings and I were encouraged to include our own handmade Christmas ornaments.