Decorating is Done

Posting has been somewhat less often during the holiday season. Like many others, we've been busy at home. This year we put up fewer decorations (even if it doesn't seem that way) and the holiday village wasn't set up. That because it's an undertaking to be started before Thanksgiving. Since we were away for that holiday, it didn't happen but perhaps next year. (Here's a look at Christmas 2018 when it was set up.)

The exterior decorations went up right after Thanksgiving, not a day before. These are outside our apartment entry as we obviously can't have actual outside ones like we did when years ago in NJ and VA when we were homeowners. The upside is there's no worries about the weather.

This Santa door wreath was homemade this year using craft supplies leftover from the past couple of years. Once the holidays are over, it will be replaced with the winter wreath, also new this year. These were no cost as I had several shoeboxes of craft supplies leftover from a couple years of making wreaths during the pandemic.

These German-made wooden nutcrackers are nearly 50 years old. They were bought at a small gift shop, which is long gone, in my hometown of Plainfield, NJ. Both were originally given as gifts to my late mother who, it turns out, wasn't that fond of them and rarely put them on display. They now stand guard in our home every holiday season.

These wooden Santas also make an annual appearance. Both were bought at a flea market several years ago. The one on the right appears to have been hand made, a big plus for me.

Here's a couple of hand made trees that I did a couple of years ago, also during the pandemic when everyone was staying in and not going anywhere.

More favorites are again making their annual appearances. For the past 11 months, most of these have been in storage container hibernation. The lone exceptions are the reindeer and snowman pair which hang around our apt year round. We finally removed the battery from the snowman as it would repeatedly say Welcome to anyone who walked by usually ourselves.

These bear figures are colorfully decked out in holiday colors and have also been part of our holiday collection for years. The largest bear was a gift from my brother at least 10 years ago. That red wagon was bought at a Hallmark store many years ago and are no longer sold in the stores, like many other things no longer available.

Once again, the Peanuts Gang (Peppermint Patty, Linus, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Lucy) are seated on the window sill. Charlie's tree needs a repair, so it's not on display this year. The gang has been joined by our colony of well-dressed penguins and this year they are hanging out at the penguin lodge, a recent purchase.

We have an assortment of snowman figures displayed on bookshelves. Several of these hold special memories as they were gifts from departed friends. 

This Nativity has special significance as well. Most of the figures are a set that formerly belonged to my late mother, except for the enclosure which is from a former set of mine. The sheep and lambs were bought many years ago, again at a Hallmark store, and are also no longer available.  

This is a close-up of the framed artwork at the far right of the above Nativity set. It's from an annual Santa painting by fellow blogger Linda, a talented artist, who blogs at Linda's Life Journal. She orders holiday cards of her Santa paintings. I was fortunate to receive this one a couple of years ago and it's become one of my favorite holiday images.

Of course, the highlight of our decorations is the Christmas tree. A couple of years ago, we were planning to get a live tree, until management here outlawed them due to insurance regulations and possible fire concerns. We were at a Michael's store when we read the message and bought this pre-lit tree. 

This year we added decorative ribbon (first time) and liked the result. Coincidentally, the ribbon plaid matched the tree skirt, which has been in use for at least 20 years. Since we don't have a fireplace, stockings are hung on the entertainment cabinet, which holds our collection of holiday DVDs. We've been watching one every night since after Thanksgiving.

This week I've been busy writing holiday greetings with a personal note in each. Despite my plans to cut down the list, that hasn't happened. To date, I've completed and mailed some 75 cards. There's still another 20 to go and these will be hand delivered to fellow residents in the mill apartments, so no postage needed (whew). Next comes cookie baking and Grenville has happily agreed to be the chief sampler of all baked treats—he's nice that way😉.

How about you?—holiday 🎄decorating, card 📨 writing, cookie 🍪 baking—any or all?

Thanks for all your comments on our grandson Bobby's birthday. He is the oldest grandchild and the youngest, granddaughter Lilliana, also has a December coming up next week.