Christmas at My House

Another week has flown by, and it has been one full of music. I calculated this afternoon that in the last 3 days, I have sung 86 songs in performances - 4 concerts with the Loveland Choral Society and 3 songs in each of the two services this morning at church. That number doesn't count singing along with the radio or the congregational singing this morning. Needless to say, I am weary. But it has been an amazing time - our director decided that it is time to really "bring Christmas back" and chose the music accordingly. He has always chosen wonderful, "real" Christmas music, along with the "fun" stuff. But this year he went an extra step and included narration of the Christmas story from Scripture, read by his pastor. I wish you could all have been there.

But - my visit to the podiatrist last Monday left me in this condition:



This is the next step in surgery prevention. But it made getting on and off the risers, and standing for hours at a time, challenging to say the least. My singing partner served as my crutch getting off and on the fairly steep risers. I start physical therapy tomorrow - I'll keep you posted!

Once again, decorating, baking, and card sending has taken a back seat to singing. I'm thinking of a New Year's letter, or even possibly a Valentine's one instead. But then I thought that last year also. I used to put up two trees, but my designer one has not made it upstairs - this makes the third year. Hayley wants me to still put it up, though it's only a week till Christmas now. We did manage to decorate the regular tree and have enjoyed it very much.

My growing collection of snowmen occupies this corner ...



... and the angels sit in the opposite corner ...




Remember my little broken snowman that I bought in Maine? Dwight did a great job of repairing him - finding a new right arm out in our back yard. (I love the pictures of Kristen and Kevin on the wall behind him).

For years I had this one nativity set, the only ceramics project I ever did.

When grandkids began arriving and spending lots of time at my house, I acquired this Little People one, which has been used with great imaginative playing for 7 years now - the figures spend a lot of time on the floor. When you push down on the angel on top of the stable, it plays "Away in a Manger."

This is another child-friendly one, which tells the story and plays "We Three Kings." When both it and the other one are put into action, it is wonderful cacophony.




This is the third one the kids play with - I got it at a fund raiser when Hayley was in preschool. Last year Baby Jesus disappeared, and has not been found. I placed one in there from a different set, which totally doesn't fit. But that's okay.




Back in the day when we used to do blogging Christmas Home Tours, I saw the Willow Tree sets for the first time and fell in love with them. I began getting a few pieces each year. This year I completed my set with the wise men. I know there are more things available, but I don't plan to spend any more on this project.




I have acquired several more sets, small ones that fit on the shelves of our new entertainment center. This one came from Miles Kimball catalog and it's called the "thimble collection."





This one is miniature, with the pieces only about 3 inches high.





... and these are about 6 inches




This came from Louise in Maine - I love it.





I love Hobby Lobby's 80% off sales after Christmas ---




Kristen works there now, and this one was 50% off, plus her 15% employee discount!




This one is WAY abstract, but it is special because Dwight's boss gave it to her staff, made by her husband.



This was a gift from my sister-in-law ...




... and this one is very special to me, carved from olive wood and brought to me from Israel by my brother, who is privileged to go there often.




The rest of these don't technically qualify as nativity sets, but do represent parts of the wonderful story.



This one I showed in my last post, but it fits here ---




My mother-in-law made these for us years ago. I haven't put them up for years and Kristen was so happy to see them. She said she always knew it was Christmas when she saw the wise men.




Kevin found this at the Cracker Barrel one year for my birthday, and it meant so much to me because it was at a time in his life when the fact that he bought me something so special gave me so much hope. The girls love watching it twirl in the candle heat.




This was a Christmas card years ago that was drawn by Joni Eareckson Tada. She draws with her mouth, since she became a quadriplegic at age 17. I decoupaged it back in the olden days when that was a popular craft. Remember that?

My sister is heading to Puno, Peru to visit her kids who are on a short-term mission down there - I'm going to ask her to bring me one of their very cute sets. If I get one, I'll be sure to share it with you.

Have a wonderful week leading up to the wonderful celebration of Christ's birth.