My Christmas House Tour

There's a neat thing going on in the blogworld at Christmas again this year -- the Christmas Tour of Homes. I didn't go to the trouble of linking my photos over there.  I love Christmas, and I love to put out all my silly, old, half-broken and rather decrepit decorations.  But some of those homes look REALLY gorgeous -- professionally decorated.  So, today, I'll give you a little glimpse of our home this year.  Nothing very fancy. Still, it' home.

I've had this red bell for many years.  It winds up and plays "Silent Night." And the elegant crystal chandelier behind it?  I have two of them, and there's quite a tale behind them. I'll save that for another day.

Here's our tree this year.  Peter and Julia decorated it one evening while Adam and I were gone, and Anna was telling them, "NO!!! Mom would want to be here! She's gonna be SO disappointed!"  Reminds me of the fish in the Dr. Seuss "The Cat In the Hat"  book. I did have to do quite a bit of rearranging of ornaments later.

The back door.  A simple wreath.

The holly berries are going crazy this year. I've thought about photographing huge trees of them around town. The nandina is also ripe, behind.

I cut some of the holly and inserted it in our wreath above the fireplace.  Not very fancy, but I like it.

The Jesse Tree.  I posted about this last year, I think. The children put up one ornament each day, representing Biblical stories that lead up to the Savior's birth.

My wooden dowel tree.  This was made for me by a dear friend's husband.  She and I sang together, and I miss her still, many years later.  Her husband is now deceased, I believe.  It sits on my piano.

I believe the date on the bottom of this simple nativity scene is 1977.  That's the year I made it, in a little ceramics class at school.  I put it out every year.

There are other little things, but I'm sure that's enough.  Merry Christmas, from our home to yours!