We are enjoying a busy but peaceful Christmas season this year. We love relaxing in our home surrounded by the Christmas decor that reminds of us Christmases past, focuses us on Christmas present, and puts hope in our hearts for Christmases future. Let me take you on a quick tour of our Christmas home.
Welcome to our home. We may live in western Washington but it doesn’t stop us from dreaming of a White Christmas. This sled is one my brothers and I used as kids when we would sled down Mt. St. Helens before it blew its top in 1980.
Our nativity has been the centerpiece of our Christmas decor for over thirty years. It is so appropriate that it sits below our wedding picture since we were married in December. It is surrounded by memories of loved ones through the trumpet and trombone that our twins played in the high school band, the violin that my grandpa would play on special occasions (usually referring to it as a “fiddle”), and my mom’s Bible that she took to college with her as a young woman.
A while back I posted about using table runners for valances in our living and dining rooms. For Christmas, I dressed them up with plaid bows and pearly-beaded garland. It added a great festive touch.
We no longer have a fireplace so the hutch serves as our mantle complete with our stockings, Christmas plates, and our son’s Steinbach nutcrackers.
My Christmas Schoolhouse Corner is a tribute to my grandma that taught in one-room school houses. The nativity portrays a children’s pageant, our favorite Christmas stories about the meaning of candy canes and the Twelve Days of Christmas rest on the seat, and it is warmed by the light from a replica lantern. The stocking is hung on a mitten rack that I purchased to hold grand-babies’ stockings for our sweet granddaughter’s first Christmas. We are so excited that we will be adding another stocking to it for next Christmas!
I’m so excited that the our Christmas village (or at least part of it) and train were able to once again be displayed. Each ornament on the tree has a special meaning or provokes fond remembrance of the one we received it from.
The village is scattered in a few spots so we can enjoy the cottage ambiance and warm lighting it provides here on the coffee table,
and leading up the stairs with billowing poly-fil to try and simulate snow while hiding a multitude of cords.
I love getting Christmas cards, and sending them too! (Although ours will be a little late in arriving this year.) I made these burlap garlands last year with mini clothespins to hold the greetings and cards we receive from friends and family.
Each home is special and as we continue to settle in to this temporary dwelling place, we are thankful and blessed that God has provided for us through another year. As I continue to share my heart for home and family, I pray that you will be blessed with peace and joy through out this Christmas holiday season.
Merry Christmas,
