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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Amidst the Bustle

I love decorating for Christmas. When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do was to "remove" a few of the more interesting ornaments, lie under the tree and play for hours. Every ornament had a backstory.  As a grown-up, I most treasure those decorations with backstory--and if there isn't one then of course  I make one up!

Here's a glimpse of what it looks like around here:
These two trees are gifts from the Grinch.  He'd stolen them from Whoville and had meant to give them back, but forgot when he took a nap after eating all of that Roast Beast.  When he discovered his mistake, he couldn't find a graceful way to return them without having everyone think he was being "Grinchy" again, so he stashed them here. I didn't mind too much.

This is Dude.  He is from Hawaii. He is very cool--though not very happy about the hat. 

Sean gave me the Santa Brothers for Christmas years ago. Now they have a little puppy whose name changes every year.  It's not because I forget what I named him every year...not at all.
Oh, and next to them is Baby Noel.  My daughter got her for her first Christmas.  She used to hang from the tree, but somehow dropped and has a small crack now, so the Santa Brothers watch  over her.  Kind of like Three Men and a Baby, but with two Santas...and a really GIANT baby.

I have many Nativity scenes, but this is one of my favorites. Someone small in the house was playing and lost the Baby Jesus, so they substituted a Fairy Winkle (remember those?) thinking I wouldn't notice.  Well, I noticed, but I rather like it.

Made by my Great-Grandmother on my Dad's side YEARS ago.  It was my favorite thing in her house.  I am so lucky to have it.

LOOK AT THE VINTAGE JEWELRY!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. I HAVE TWO OF THE VINTAGE JEWELRY CHRISTMAS TREES!! The bottom one was made by my great-uncle on my mom's side.  He must have read the same craft magazine as my great-grandmother did because they BOTH made one of these YEARS before the families were related by the marriage of my parents. SO WEIRD!! But awesome that I have them both.
Oh, and yes, those are my dogs in holiday sweaters.  In California where it is 70 degrees.  What can I say--my 15 year-old did it!



Tree-topper:  A star from a paper shop in Albuquerque and a picture of Trinket. When Noel first saw the cover for The Seven Tales of Trinket, she said it looked a bit like a Byzantine Baby Jesus.  I thought she was right. When I look up at the top of the tree, I am reminded that you can see holiness everywhere, if only you are willing to look.
(Oh, if you look above the tree, you can see a glimpse of a few of the members of my own personal Action League.  They are on the highest shelf and watch over Christmas to make sure things stay on track.  You can see Sun Kachina to the right (Made by my daughter from a tp roll,) and the Good Knight, and to the left, there is a likeness of a stature of Moses by Michealangelo backed up by Robot.  Not pictured:  Lego Indiana Jones, Irish Penguin, Chicken Wizard, Lego Han Solo.)

So, Merry Christmas to all!  May your holiday be filled with stories!

xo--

hrh

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lots of wonderful Christmas decorations. Thanks for taking the time to share them. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Julie Dao said...

I hope you had a very merry Christmas, Shelley! Those vintage jewelry trees are absolutely beautiful and now I want to make one!

Caryn Caldwell said...

I love your decorations! The Dude is great, especially with the Santa hat! As for removing the decorations to play with them and making up stories to go with each one, I noticed my daughter doing the same thing this year! After each play session, we found the decorations hanging up on various potted plants throughout the house, though most of them made it back onto the tree.