Decorated

Ordinary Lives. JollyDaze meme

Welcome to JollyDaze 4 & me!
A short six week meme to carry us through the end of the year.
A meme for us to enjoy the holidays with.
We'd love to have you join us! Click here for more info.

Usually, the very first Christmas decorations that come out every year are the Nativity scenes, and quite often they'll be out for a week before our tree gets put up (although it didn't happen that way this year. Bummer.)

I have a small set that I brought back from Ecuador, and it sits on my kitchen window sill--it's probably my favorite simply because it came from home.

Then there's the set that Jim brought home from Kenya, when he was there on a missions trip just a couple weeks before our youngest was born. This set isn't pretty, but it resembles the Masai people who carved it, and that's where the beauty is for me. Yes, the wise men pieces are up, and I understand that they weren't at the manger that night, but I can't bear to not put them up, so they're there, too.

The kids' favorite Nativity set, by far, is the set my parents gave us. They made sure to find a kid-friendly set that will last for years even with constant kid-handling. This one goes on our school cabinet where kids have been know to arrange and re-arrange it.

We seem to have a repeat performance going on here. A few years ago, after setting up the tree, my youngest wasn't feeling well and he and Linus curled up under the tree. Linus napped while my little guy watched the movie. This year, the day after the tree went up, my youngest spent the day on the couch, probably because he's no longer little enough to tuck himself under the tree. Not that we let the kids play or be under the tree, but when you happen to look over and see a sick lil one snuggling your cat under the tree you can't help but melt just a little (and snap a picture, LoL).


One of the favorite Christmas decoration is this train. It doesn't normally sit in front of the fireplace, but the kids were watching a movie (our tv lives in the closet) so we moved it out of the way so they could camp out on the floor and not be scrunched up on the couch.


Some years I try to get out of setting up the Christmas village, but the kids usually veto that. This is another thing they loved when they were younger because they were allowed to arrange it, which naturally resulted in broken pieces. But they glue up well enough and it's worth it for the kids to enjoy it so much. On the window sill is Mr. & Mrs. Snowman, who were some of my very first Christmas decorations.


These little guys are some of my favorites and every year they sit on the sashing of my kitchen windows. They're among the last of the Christmas decorations to be put away, and often hang around until almost Spring.

There you have it--a simple Christmas in the corn fields at the edge of nowhere.
So tell me, what's your favorite Christmas decoration?

If you're joining us for the JollyDaze 4 u & me meme by posting on your blog this week about Christmas, be sure to add your name and the link to that particular post in the linky gadget here.



On deck for next week: Christmas Baking... Recipes... funnies... memories from the kitchen...

6 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing these adorable and even some unique Christmas decorations. You've put me in the mood to start pulling out some of mine! I have couple of stuffed snowman and they're among my very favorites, they just look so happy and jolly sitting around! Hugs!

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  2. Love the photo of your son and kitty under the tree-precious!

    Very nice decorations- a childhood memory treasure.

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  3. This is fun!

    I love you international nativity sets.

    My cat was sleeping under our tree, but jumped up to sniff the camera when I tried to take a picture.

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  4. Very cool ornaments--especially the live cat. :)
    Diana
    www.pencildancer.com

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  5. Your decorations are precious! My favorite decorations aren't actually up yet, although we did do the tree this weekend. We have a shelf across the length of our room and my Precious Redhead insists on putting on it's Christmas suit ever year with lights and the many Christmas standables we've collected.

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  6. LOVE these decorations! We just do the tree - used to do a nativity, but it was a BIG one (not much room) and most of the pieces are broken. REALLY should buy a new one.

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