Christmas Tour of Homes

Memories, Ornaments, and Other Decorations

We interrupt our regularly scheduled travelogue to participate in some Christmas fun. I am re-posting last year’s Christmas Tour of Homes, and will rejoin the travelogue in progress (if you guys think I should – is anyone tired of it yet? There’s so much more to say and show and I don’t want to belabor the point if it’s too long – please let me know!) Add a year to everything that is date sensitive in this old post.

New memories are being formed every day as I care for the kiddoes. Care Bear is really aware of what Christmas is about, thanks to Sunday school, Christian preschool, and reinforcement at home and at Grandma's. She was excited about seeing Santa today at the mall, but yesterday it was all about Jesus. She and Feisty were playing Mary and Joseph yesterday. Feisty wanted to be Baby Jesus, but Care Bear informed her that she couldn't be Baby Jesus, because he had not been born yet - she had to be the donkey that Mary rode on to Bethlehem. Pretty good for a 4-year-old! Care Bear has also been very concerned this week about King Herod's ordering all of the baby boys to be killed. It was a great learning moment for us.


Last year I bought the Fisher Price Little People (known as Things That Go Guys to Care Bear - another story I'll let Kristen tell) nativity set, because my traditional set was showing the wear and tear of being rearranged by little hands - several animal ears have fallen victim. When you push on the angel on top of the stable, it plays "Away in a Manger." They arrange, rearrange, lose, find, the characters many times a day.

I have decided a safer place for the set I made (with the help of a really crafty friend) many years ago is the top shelf of the entertainment center. On the shelves below is my growing collection of angels.

A few days ago I mentioned that I have two trees. It happened because I always wanted to put a tree in the living room window and the kids always wanted the tree down in the family room. I compromised - the tree full of memories continues to be in the family room, and I bought myself a tree which I have added to every year since. It has been a labor of love, but lots of work!

I made this crewel embroidery picture years ago and love to hang it every year. Now it serves as a reminder of how ambitious and creative I used to be - and patient.

I love this wooden Christmas Windmill. It is very special because my son bought it for me for my birthday a few years ago. It has 3 levels of the nativity scene, and of course twirls when the candles are lit. The grandkids love it as well.

I had a hard time narrowing down my favorite ornaments. Our first tree was full of blue satin balls from our flocked wedding trees the December before. That's all we had on our first tree. I wish I had a picture of it. Every year after that I would give away a box (we had 6 dozen of them) and replace it with a new set. We also decided to acquire a special ball each year. Most of them are dated. The very first one we picked out was crushed, along with many others, when one of those real trees with a lousy trunk tipped over while we were gone for the evening. That was sad.

When I was a young mom, we had a great time at Bible study. Sometimes we had a craft time. One year we went through this phase. The balls were styrofoam made to look quilted - lots of fun to make, but I haven't done one since I made so many that year. But this one has stayed on my tree ever since - I wonder how many of the gifts I gave are still "hanging around."

This was our 1979 ball, bought to commemorate the first year in our new house - we are in the same house 28 years later. I posted about that on July 1.

I made this for our 10th Christmas together - the only needlepoint project I ever did - I did lots of crewel embroidery, regular embroidery, and counted cross stitch, but only this one needlepoint. That makes it VERY special, as well as very sentimental.

For our 25th anniversary, 9 years ago, we went to the Big Island of Hawaii. We stayed outside of Kona at a Bed and Breakfast called The Dragonfly Ranch (Kim would love it!). It was so wonderful - no windows on our cabin so the birds and even roosters woke us up in the morning. We drove around the hills one of the first days and came upon a beautiful old very small Catholic church. They were having a craft sale that day and we bought this hand-made ornament as a memento. We also attended their Christmas program later that week. That was a blessed experience - seeing the Christmas story portrayed with hula was unbelievably moving and beautiful - I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it.

This is our 1995 ornament in honor of our little dachshund, Fritzie - I wrote about him a few weeks ago. This was one of the last pictures we took of him before he died.

Last, but not least, our 3 grandkids are gracing the tree with these adorable pictures.

This has been fun - I hope it's not too long for your to enjoy it as well. Merry Christmas!