A Little Nativity Scene Story

Last year I was looking at a picture of a country house decorated for Christmas and something on one of the walls caught my attention.  It was a rustic nativity scene and I loved it.  The picture was rather dark, but I thought the lines of it could be seen well enough for Dan to try making one.  I showed him the picture and he loved it, too, and said he'd try. Of course, he was successful and here's a closeup.

And here's where it is in our house, over the stairway to the basement.

We showed it to Ann and she, too, loved it, so Dan made one for her. The other night, we got a text from her with the following message and photo: "Daniel put his precious peanut baby Jesus in the manger!"

It was the baby Jesus from a nativity scene he had make in Sunday School a few years ago. He'd made a manger from popsicle sticks and baby Jesus from a peanut wrapped with felt. Ann had put it with her big nativity scene because she loved it so much, but then Daniel noticed that Mary was holding baby Jesus, so he couldn't be in the manger, too.  Ann was working in the kitchen and didn't see what he was doing, but later when she passed by the one on the wall, she spotted the little baby in the manger.  

Here's a closeup:

It's just the sweetest thing and makes this Grammy's heart melt.  Merry Christmas! ♥

Sunday

It's Sunday and while it was fogged in early, the day has emerged with a beautiful blue sky and sunshine.  When we arrived at church, someone or more probably several someones, had chalked the parking lot and the walkway into the foyer with the names of God.  One after another they emerged into view as we walked forward.  Mighty One, Counselor, King of Kings, and on and on they went! It was amazing and inspiring. No one claimed responsibility, so I guess it was a Christmas gift to us all.

And speaking of Christmas, last evening Ann and Eric posted this picture, which I shamelessly stole, of the tree they cut yesterday.  It's gorgeous!!

You can see the closed pocket door behind it. Their house has a circle in it so no worries that they can't get into the kitchen. :-)  I love seeing Daniel standing on the arm of the chair, balancing himself on the ceiling, to hang a high ornament. As Eric said, it needed a bit of encouragement to fit through the door, but they love it!  ♥

Early December Saturday

What is it about Saturdays?  Even when you don't work, Saturdays are special.  I sort of slept in, eight-thirty, which was lovely.  After breakfast we began plotting our projects for the day.  For me, that meant serious Christmas shopping so I could cross it off my list.  After conferring with Ann and Dan, I achieved success. Decisions were made and the items were ordered.  Yay!!

Then to the basement to store decoration boxes (Dan), and finish basement decorating (me).  As we worked on those things, boxes of things from my parents' house--files, photos, etc.--surfaced and we were able to do a little sorting and consolidating and shredding.  Another yay!

This afternoon Ann and family came to get their Christmas tree from Papa's Tree Farm in our lower backyard.  Such fun!  Such a huge tree!! They used our pickup to drive around to pick it up so the boys all decided a ride in the back was called for.

I didn't get a picture of the tree in the back of the truck because they left the back way.  I hear they had to pull a pocket door closed from the living room to the kitchen to create a corner big enough for the tree.  It sure made for a fun afternoon! ♥

Christmas in the Dining Room

It's only two o'clock and I've remembered! The dining room is pretty much ready to celebrate the days leading up to Christmas so I thought I'd feature it today.  I'll try to remember to take a picture of the table all set for Christmas dinner when the time comes.  It's very festive, if I do say so myself, with the Christmas dishes, crystal, shiny flatware, and red plaid accented table coverings.  

So, to commence!  Here's a long view of the room.

My sweetie made all the furniture with the exception of the chairs, which I would love to replace.  Some day.

And a closeup of the left wall.

The Bible on the dough box belonged to Dan's grandmother, Aletha Miller. It's open to Luke Chapter 2.  I made the counted cross stitch St. Nicholas's years and years ago and I talked about them in this post. 

Here's the table for now.

It's not a large table; it was built for the house we lived in at the time and worked just fine until we added in-laws and grandchildren.  Dan solved the problem by building a much larger plywood top that we drop on so that we can easily fit ten or more around.  The only issue?  Dan doesn't build anything that isn't sturdy, and it takes hardy sons, brothers, or grandsons to bring it in and put into place.  Just part of the dinner fun!

And the hutch.  Again, built for another house, but it might as well have been custom made for this house, it fits so perfectly.

The candle on the right is one of those battery operated ones and it has a timer on it.  I smile every evening when I notice it glowing about five o'clock.  

And the little shelf next to the hutch.

Hmm, looks like I chopped off the top of the candle.  Oh well!  Dan turned the wooden holder and of course, built the shelf.  The little Hummels were ornaments I gave my mom years ago, and the plate and little pitchers were gifts from my long-time pal, Kathy, when she lived in Boston for a few years.  I made the wall hanging using my embroidery machine for the words.  

And that's the dining room, all decked out to celebrate the season.  ♥

December 3 and I Almost Forgot!

I just finished emptying the dishwasher and thought I'd make a last check of email and Facebook when I remembered I said I'd try to write each day until Christmas.  Arrgh! Such a short memory!  

So, what happened today?  It was a gloriously beautiful day with sunshine streaming in the windows.  It did seem a little strange to be setting out Christmas decorations on such an unwintery day, but pretty much the whole upstairs is decorated now. Yes, including the bathrooms. (And even the laundry room downstairs gets its little additions.  More on those rooms on another day.) 

I was a little shocked a few minutes ago when I realized this is our twenty-second Christmas in this house.  By far the most Christmases in any house I've lived in.  Which actually makes it easy to decorate as I don't change from year to year. Tradition!!  (As Tevye would sing, although he didn't celebrate Christmas . . .) 

The window pane wall hanging made its way upstairs last Christmas to replace the red and green log cabin star. It was a success, so it is back again this year.  Hmmm, that makes me realize that some traditions do  change over the years.  

And here's true tradition, Bear Corner.

A happy little group backed by a beautiful copy of The Night Before Christmas, illustrated by one of my favorite artists, Susan Winget. 

It was a good day, with much accomplished, including getting my hair cut!  Always an upper.  ♥

Just Checking In

After yesterday's post, I decided I would see if I could do a post each day until Christmas.  I imagined lively words, some photos, and generally an update as to our preparations for the Big Day.

Today I began in earnest, getting out quilts, wall hangings, and table runners.  These things are all stored upstairs on shelves in the boys' room on shelves in one of the closets.  I have quite a number of all three items to spread throughout the house and it takes some time to take down the Americana and put up the Christmas.  (And why does it seem like I just took them down?)

Yesterday I swapped out my regular dishes for the Christmas set, trotting up and down the hall to the cupboards where they are stashed the rest of the year.  When I was little, I dreamed of having Christmas dishes and I love that my dream came true.  We use them all month and well into January.  They make me smile.

However, I believe I may have mentioned in the past that I'm a very linear person, not a good multi-tasker.  And yesterday proved to be a case in point.  While swapping dishes, I was watching a movie on my kitchen TV (The Intern with Robert DeNiro which I hadn't seen before), while also making a pumpkin pie with some leftover pumpkin.  That's three things at one time.  The pie paid the price.  I reset the timer for forty-five minutes when the first fifteen minutes were up at 425°, but forgot to turn the oven down to 350°. When the final timer rang, I was shocked to see that the crust was a very, very, very dark brown at the edges and then I noticed the black spots on the pumpkin filling.  Then I realized what I had done.  I assumed the pie was a loss, but we tried it (minus the edge crust!) and it wasn't bad.  Not great, but not bad. 

Apparently pumpkin pie is very resilient.   ♥

Christmas Decorating

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, Ann and I went to a wreath-making workshop at our friends, the Brusvens, Christmas tree farm.  We'd wanted to go last year but ended up having other things come up on the designated day.  This year we were determined to go.

It was a cold day and there was snow on the ground, so we bundled up and it was a good thing!  I thought it would be indoors, and it sort of was, as it was in a barn.  They did have big heaters on, but still, it was chilly!  

No problem though, as we were busy the whole time and since we were excited, we stayed warm. Annette showed us what to do and then turned us loose with different types of branches.  Ann and I shared a table and there were times we couldn't see the top of it.  Branches, nippers to cut with, ribbon, extras to tie in.  We were focused!

Here's my result, mounted on our front door today.

For my first attempt, I'm pretty happy with it.  We plan to go again next year!  ♥