I have been trying in vain to figure out this whole blogging thing. I have spent so many hours online trying to download cute fonts, adorable backgrounds and then today I have tried to apply some of those things and well.... IT JUST ISN'T WORKING!! If you are an old I Love Lucy fan, insert her wailing cry here!!
I can't figure out how to add photos which is the primary reason I decided to attempt this whole blogging thing again... Ughh.... I know it has to be easy but I am at a loss right now. I want to blog about whatever picture I take each day and whatever else strikes my fancy..
Right here is supposed to be a picture of my vintage Santa collection. As we begin a New Year it means that YES, all my decorations must lovingly be boxed away again for another year. I have many treasured Christmas lovelies..I have collected Santa's for over 15 years and I have all sorts of them. I have whimsical ones that make me laugh, fabric ones , all types of glass ones , lots of different wooden ones and a slew of vintage plastic ones.
I also collect snowmen and gingerbread men/houses. I know, I know... My husband says that I am a hoarder in every sense of the word except that I am not one who suffers from psychological issues where my home is stuffed to the ceilings with trash or anything, just I have a lot of stuff and I have a strange attachment to it. That's not to say that if something were to happen ( God forbid) I wouldn't get over it because it is after all just stuff and material things can't be taken with you anyway. I absolutely adore collecting all these things though and enjoy keeping my snowmen up a little longer ( till around the end of February) since they are Winter related and not necessarily only for Christmas. I didn't put up any of my gingerbread stuff this year.. Some years it is like that and I go through phases. I also did not put up my huge snow village either. I had started to collect the cute little houses several years ago and then maybe two or three years ago my mother gave me all of her houses and accessories so now I have a huge SNOW VILLAGE with a candy shop, multiple churches, bakery, park with gazebo, school, and about a dozen different houses. I have all sorts of people that go with it including snowmen, carolers, kids and parents..
I also have an infatuation with all the ornaments I have collected over the years ( insert another cute unloaded picture here). I relish in unwrapping each ornament and placing them under the tree while I decorate it as I "look " for just the right place for that special memory to go. I have the first "set" of ornaments that we got the first year we were married almost 28 years ago . A salesman was selling them door to door which is odd to me now but not so much back then. It is a set of a dozen porcelain bells that are in the shapes of animals. I don't remember how much I paid for them but it couldn't have been much. We have the Hallmark sports figures ornaments with the likes of Troy Aikman, Jeff Gordan, Dale Ernhardt Sr. & Jr, Larry Bird, Tony Stewart just to name a few, not to mention the Batmobile with Batman and Robin racing to their next adventure. We have all sorts of religious ornaments from crosses, angels, nativities to ones that were made in Sunday School classes. All of them holding some special meaning or memory. Of course my recollection of our many ornaments wouldn't be complete without mentioning my most favorite ones which are the handmade ones. I have a sweet little girl made from embroidery floss, felt and a pipe cleaner that I made with my paternal grandmother so many years ago. I also have some that she made me as well. I have some ornaments and decorations from my maternal grandmother as well and seeing as they are both in heaven now, they are precious reminders of love, happiness and all things sweet. I adore all the sweet , cute, messy ornaments that were made by sweet little boys that have turned into men now.. Those are my FAVORITES... Then there are the handmade ornaments that I forced my men into making with me back in 2004. I planned a whole day around making memories and part of that plan was having everyone get creative and make special ornaments. The memories that go with these ornaments come flooding back each year as I unwrap each ornament one by one.
Of all the things that "say" Christmas to me none has more meaning to me than our Nativity. We actually have several but there is the one that I place over our mantle in the middle of our living space front and center and in the most prominent place. . I always do the surroundings a little different each year but there is usually gold beads that represent the gold, a little woven basket that I imagine might have held the incense and a small wooden urn that represents the container that would have held the myrrh. Of course there is also an angel in this setting too. This year I added two things ... I added a small slender tree on one side of the mantle that I made ornaments for. There were 25 ornaments each with a different name of Christ written on it. I also made a banner with 25 pockets to go over the mantle. Each pocket contained a different scripture or bible reading to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord. I so ADORED how it looked but more imporantly reading all the messages each day. I must admit, I did get a little behind and didn't read each one but close to it.I guess I will have something to look to forward to next year.
As another Christmas season closes and a New Year begins I am excited about the plans God has for me and my family in this coming year. What paths will he take us down, what obstacles might we have to overcome? Just as I anticipate putting out all my lovelies each Christmas season and cherishing each memory that goes with each one I eagerly anticpate the memories that will be made in another year of serving my Lord.
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can conceive what God has planned for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
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