a few reminders of Christmas...

It used to be, when many of us were children, that right before Thanksgiving... the Christmas decor started to be increasingly present in the stores... as a very young girl I remember my father grumbling a bit that we didn't really get a chance to celebrate that holiday without the stores rushing us on to Christmas... Daddy loved Thanksgiving, and he loved Christmas... he didn't want to rush either holiday... I am a lot like him in that respect...

That push starts in September now... this year I saw Christmas decorations in stores over Labor Day weekend... That doesn't bother me as much as it used to... While personally I dislike the over-commercialization of Christmas, I understand that stores are in the business of making money, so I allow them to do what they feel they must, to stay in business... however, I turn a blind eye to what I don't want to see as far as advertising... I am getting good at that... 8-) I suppose it's only a matter of time until we have decorations available to buy in stores year round... though I am not sure why that is necessary... one can already do that online...

However my treasure was found this year in a box of really OLD decorations... They are probably older than I am... momma sent them to me the year I was married... we didn't have money to buy ornaments for our tree... and I still remember sobbing with joy as I hung them on that first tree and remembering them on our family tree when I was a very little girl... It was a precious gift... When my children were little we never used these ornaments, because I was afraid they would get broken... This year I am using those ornaments on my tree, and sharing pictures with YOU...

I really enjoy my memories of the Friday after Thanksgiving for some very fun reasons... (I RARELY shop on that day, and I practically refuse to call it BLACK Friday...) When "I" was growing up, that was the day we got our Christmas Tree each year... We used to go to a tree farm not far from our home in North/Central California and cut it down... Daddy would secure it in a stand and during the next couple days we would decorated it... Some years mom decorated with a theme, that we later jokingly called the "pepto-tree". It was completely white with flocking momma sprayed on herself... and had all PINK ornaments on it... satin balls and pink and gold ice cream cones... Really, it's hard to describe/imagine... and I can't find any pictures to scan in... But, many times over the years since I have thought that her pink decorated trees would have a perfect breast cancer awareness tree... :-) Momma was ahead of her time...

I was just a little sad when momma got an artificial tree the year I turned 16, but it was nice to have the tree still alive with lights on Christmas day... and we always decorated it the day after Thanksgiving once the artificial tree was bought...

When I got married and started my own traditions I learned right at first that hubby is allergic to pine trees, so we bought a very cheap artificial tree... It was 2 feet tall... Over the years, we usually put up our tree up the first week of December... in the early days I did most of the decorating alone... but as our family grew the kids helped... Those were fun years.

The last couple years I have gone back to having a small tree... a big one is just too much for me to handle decorating alone, and hubby is not into decorating... This year we also have a new wreath for the front door thanks to our daughter in law's ingenuity... It's very simple, and I love it... aren't the holly berries pretty...?

Yesterday the Nativity went up... Momma made each of her children, herself, and her own mother one of these Nativities, many years ago... She painted each one with great detail and love... all 10 sets were very much alike!!!

Using some "cellular" creativity (because my little point and shoot camera went AWOL while on loan out to our princess a couple months ago... that's not really a big deal... I believe Santa has a camera on his list for me this year...) I thought I would share a few reminders of my past and present Christmases, as captured in a few quick photos of our decorations, I edited them with iPhoto... you gotta LOVE computers sometimes... they make a pretty decent photographer even out of a complete amateur like me...

For lack of a better place to hang out... the angel that watches over the scene on display, of the birth of the Savior of the World, this year is doing her job from the lamp switch...

She is a diligent angel... while, Baby Jesus occupies his usual place of honor at the center of animals, wise men, shepherds and a loving Mary and Joseph... As always setting up the Nativity brought to my mind past Christmases when our children helped to gently unwrap and then smooth the tissue paper that the pieces were wrapped in, storing that wrapping back in the box for later... Often we had to settle disputes over who would get to place the baby Jesus in place... back then I felt irritated, but now I smile at the memory... And I thought to myself this year that in each home around the world the decorations we cherish each Christmas are more than just special... they help bring the true meaning of the season with them.

This Christmas I find myself wanting to identify new ways to bring the Love of the Savior into my family's hearts and celebrations... Remembering simple and caring acts of service over the year has helped me a lot in this quest... and thinking about my years with momma and daddy is also a sweet joy that reminds me that Christmas more than just those decorations...

There is something good about decorating... I do it more slowly every year... but I also find that I savor it more with each memory...