Christmas Decorations 2022

 This year, with both girls in college, I didn't decorate as much for Christmas as I have in the past. That being said, there are things I do enjoy putting up each year. 

One of the things I put on the windows each year is the collection of window stars that I have made throughout the years. These are the stars on the dining room and living room windows. 

 

One of my favorite things is the St. Nicholas Village that I have in the dining room. A couple of the buildings belonged to my parents who had a little village set up in the living room. 

In 2018, we had a fire at our farm. The building where the majority of our bins with Christmas decorations were stored burned to the ground...and with it many of the little buildings that my parents owned. It was very disappointing. However, the following year at Christmas I was thrilled to see that I had transferred a couple of the buildings already to the basement.

So, starting in 2020 I began adding buildings and people to the village. I go to the second-hand store and look for St. Nicholas Christmas Village boxes. This year, I found a ski chalet (far left in the picture below) and a home with Christmas lights (far right in the photo above). 

This year, on September 6th, my step-father-in-law died. Two of the things we inherited were these Santa figurines. I put them on our woodstove (when we don't have fires in it) so we can see them each day.

I put the stockings that I made for each person in our family (on the left) and our dogs (on the right). As I look at the stockings, it seems really bare in comparison to past years when we had many more animals - stockings for 4 family members and 13 pets (4 dogs, 6 cats, 2 horses, and 1 hedgehog). 

Right before Thanksgiving, one of our senior dogs - Scooby - died. He was 15 (almost 16) years old. So, it's hard to see only 3 dog stockings up there.

In the family room, I have a couple of Santas. If I open them up, there are smaller Santas inside them. I don't know where I got there...maybe an antique store?

For our Christmas tree, we were given one which was nice. Normally, we go to a local Christmas tree farm and cut a tree, but it didn't work with both of the girls' schedules when they were home for Thanksgiving. 

So, I put a bunch of lights on the tree (about seven or eight strings of lights) and added a few ornaments. This is one that I got for either Sophia or Olivia when they were younger and received gifts from St. Nicholas on December 6th. 

This is another ornament from Gammelgarden Museum (a historical museum that focuses on the Swedish immigrant experience). I always thought it was a horse. It's not. It's a goat...a Yule goat.

This is one of the ornaments I inherited from my parents when they died. This one features blue jays. There are two other ornaments with birds that are commonly seen here. 

This is one of many ornaments that Sophia, Olivia, and I made when the girls were much younger when I was homeschooling them (in early elementary school age). They were clear ornaments and we put acrylic paint in them that we swirled around. The result was these marbled-looking ornaments. 

In the family room, I have the flag from my dad's burial (he was a Korean War veteran). I put little nativity figurines in front of the flag. My dad, who was a deacon later in his life, would have loved these little figurines.

I have a nativity scene in the living room. Between last year and this year, one of the kings broke (the leg came off). I need to glue on the parts I can, but it won't fix his leg completely. I have had this nativity set since the girls were little - so probably a good 20 years now.

This is the advent wreath that Sophia made last year when we went to St. Croix Falls. There was a church that was offering this free craft using wood from a tree that had fallen down about a month earlier. They provided the (fake) greenery, candles, and decorations. 

Outside, I have lights that are strung on t-posts. For the past couple of years we had smaller lights. However, they were damaged last year by an animal that chewed through the cords - a rabbit...I have no idea. At any rate, it was frustrating to have to toss the lights. I do like these, lights, though. They are colorful and festive, and they are a nice welcome home when I come home in the dark. I also like seeing all the colors reflected on the snow when I wake up in the morning and it is dark outside.

So, that's some of the Christmas decorations around our home this year. Some new...some old...and the majority attached to memories that sustain me throughout the month of December.