Hi all!
My Christmas decorating tradition is that we have no formal tradition. LOL! We change it up every year. I scaled down our Christmas decorating this year, mostly because we’re taking a trip around the holidays in lieu of staying home. I am so excited because it will be a trip with my parents as well as my husband’s parents together with our children, plus my sister and her family. I AM SO EXCITED! I’ll post pics of the trip once I get them.
Anyway, I still wanted to do a little decorating since it’s something special I do with my girls that they enjoy. Here’s the extent of it:
The white tree is about twelve inches tall. My daughter and her friend decorated it. The tree “skirt” is actually just wrapping paper. I love glitter!
I also love the Cardinals baseball team…and good-smelling things-hence the Cardinal wax heate
r as Christmas decor. I’m tempted to leave it out all year! In fact, the candy cane coffee cup and the one next to it does stay out all year because my grandmothers (now in Heaven) gave them to me and they’re sentimental in that we always drank coffee together while having heart-to-heart chats. I miss them dreadfully but am grateful for the hope of Heaven that will enable me to see them once again when it’s my time.
Confession: the little black lantern is something I leave out all year, along with the red felt doily because I love snow scenes. My house is decorated burgundy and hunter green, so technically we’re Christmas-y all year anyway. LOL!
The inside of this lantern has 4 Thomas Kinkade scenes and holds a flickering tea light LED candle, which illuminates the wintery scenes.
The green tree advertised as a five foot tree, 
but I’m thinking that included the base. LOL! It’s perfect for a tabletop tree, which we need because my dogs attack Christmas bulbs like cats do. LOL!
Do you have a tough time keeping your pets out of your tree? What’s your solution?
My favorite decoration is my nativity set. I have several. The one pictured gets rearranged each day by one of my daughters. Baby Jesus has trekked all around that table. LOL! At one point, it looked like he was in a Conga line with the shepherd, the animals and Joseph leading and the wise men following. LOL!
How about you? Did you go all out this year with decorating? Or do you keep it minimal? What’s your favorite Christmas decoration? Would love for you all to tell about your Christmas decorating traditions and decor! :-) I’d especially love to hear about your nativity set if you have one.
I’m not sure if the comments allow you to post photos, but if so, I’d LOVE to see your Christmas decor, whether inside or out.
I also wanted to share a couple of powerful videos by worship leader Lauren Daigle and Chris Tomlin: Noel by Lauren Daigle & Chris Tomlin‘s He Shall Reign.
I can’t watch the videos without being caught up in worship…which is great. I hope it will stir your spirit to worship Jesus too. How blessed we are that God and Jesus gave the priciest gifts of all-God-his son, Jesus-his life, to provide salvation-our rescue. Praying the true meaning of Christmas touches you in an especially powerful way this season and in ways that will last all year. If the holidays are hard on you, please know you are in my prayers.
Thank you for sharing your lives with us here. Your time, presence and participation are gifts we greatly treasure. We appreciate you!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Cheryl Wyatt
USA Today bestselling author and RN Cheryl Wyatt writes romance with virtue themed with rescue. She’s grateful to be a worshipper of Jesus, a mom, wife, orphan/troop advocate, plus wrangler of words and spoiled Yorkies. She loves readers and cherishes interaction at: https://www.facebook.com/CherylWyattAuthor. Join her newsletter via her website: www.cherylwyatt.com.
Just haven’t gotten my act together this year!! Both my mom and I have nativity scenes that we put out!! What would Christmas be without one?
Happy holidays and enjoy a safe trip!!
I hope you and your family have a wonderful and safe trip, Cheryl. What great memories you all will make together.
Your little tree is adorable. I’ve scaled down slightly with my decorating. One of my favorite decorations is my Charles Dickens village set.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
We dont have pets to keep out of the tree, but keeping the three year old out poses a constant challenge. :)
Have a good trip!
Sounds like you have a fantastic Christmas planned! I hope that your time together is truly a blessing to all. We take turns spending time with family for the holidays and it is our turn to head to my family in VT. That generally means minimizing decorations here.
I pray the you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a 2016 full of love, joy and peace!
I was just thinking about you this morning, Cheryl! When my son was small, we put the Christmas tree in the play pen. We also used it to block the stairs. When my daughter came along, I had learned by that time the play pen was a good place for the kid lol. When we put Cory in there he would cry because we didn’t start him out there, so when he started crawling and we needed a safe place to put him, he didn’t like it. When Mary was born, he started climbing in on his own so he could lay down with her. My cat likes to chew on the tree when we first put it out, but she has stopped now. Our blue heeler, who likes to herd, brushes against the tree as she walks by. I’m not sure where she is trying to herd the tree to however lol. The other dogs don’t mess with it. My nativity set sits out all year. I’d love to increase it to include all the animals, wise men, etc. Right not it is the manger, Mary and Joseph, and Jesus. I have a nativity set inside a ball-thingy that sits out as well. All I’ve done so far is the tree. I’d love to set out winter scenes, or villages, and things like that, but never seem to have the time. I will build towns with my legos and lincoln logs once I am off next week. I love this time of year! Now if it would only snow…
Your trip sounds like so much fun! Where are you going? Have a safe and fun trip and please don’t scare your husband into thinking he’s left you behind lol.
I have a Santa that my uncle carved. It’s about 6 inches tall and is a merry, chubby cheeked old elf with a hat and long robe. I have almost no flat surfaces in my living room, so currently he is standing guard over one of my nativity scenes. =)
I do my Snowmen every year. I only put up a big tree if my family is coming for Christmas. My nativity is a precious moments.. Merry Christmas!
When my husband and I were first married, he was in the air force and stationed in Taiwan. We went on a trip with the chapel group from his base, and went through a town known for wood carving. We found a beautiful carved wooden nativity set hidden away in one of the shops, and bought it. Then later, in a different city we found a very rough stable that goes with it perfectly.
I have two nativity sets. One is porcelain that we bought at Costco many years ago. The other I made when our kids were small. The figures are simple fabric shapes with felt faces and beanbag bases. This set spent over a decade in a box but has been out in the past several years for my young granddaughters to play with.
My favorite memory with this set is my son, who was about three at the time, moving the figures around while watching the SuperBook Christmas video.
We have a few Nativity sets. One belonged to my parents, who are now in heaven. One was given to me by my husband and son years ago. I treasure each set as they all have special meanings. I love to place the Nativity sets where everyone can see them and reflect on the message of Christ’s birth. Merry Christmas!
I go all out. This year it took me a week to put everything up.
Cheryl, we’ve moved so many times in the past seven years that many of our favorite decorations have been broken, lost, or require the wrong voltage. That gives us the opportunity to find new favorite decorations, but there will always be nostalgia for the old ones! Love your cozy post! Thanks. :)
I have a Precious Moments nativity set that my ex-mother-in-law had given to us years ago. She loves PM and has every one of them that’s come out I think! It’s a very special set to me and small enough to fit anywhere I put it. I have yet to decorate, that’s coming up this weekend. I’m a last minute person….lol!
Jill, I LOVE Christmas villages. Mine is in my storage shed but I’m hoping to get it up this week. Last minute totally works! LOL! One year, my sister was in the hospital with emergency pregnancy complications so we all literally decorated and had Christmas well after New Years. LOL! That year, our Christmas gift was that she and baby ended up being okay. Thank you so much for stopping by. Have fun decorating!
Linda, it seems like December sneaked up on us, didn’t it? I love looking at all the different types of Nativity sets there are. The church near our home has a nice outdoor one that we pass at least a couple times a day. You have a very Merry Christmas! Thanks for stopping by.
Elizabeth, I giggled about the toddler. Three is such a fun age. Merry Christmas to you all! Thanks for coming by.
Julieanne, thank you so much. I bet Christmas in VT is gorgeous. I’ve always wanted to live in a Northern state because of snow. You all have a Merry Christmas as well. Thank you so much for the well wishes. Glad you stopped by!
Hello dear one! I laughed about Cory and the playpen. That must make it into one of your books. How sweet though that he wanted to be with his sister. We are going to Florida. So probably no snow. And, yes, I’ll try to make sure he doesn’t leave me behind or think he has anyway. LOLOL! He wasn’t used to me going on gigs with him. LOLOL! He says it wasn’t that big of deal, but he didn’t see the horrified/panicked expression on his own face. LOLOLOL! Have a very Merry Christmas…and I hope you get snow! :-)
Aww, Katy, the carved Santa sounds wonderful! What a great gift! Glad you stopped by.
Oh, Deanna, I love snowmen. My mother-in-law loves Precious Moments. Merry Christmas to you and your family as well. Thank you for coming by!
Margaret, that is awesome about the nativity and then the stable. What a wonderful tradition and memories to go along with it! Merry Christmas and thank you very much for coming by.
Valerie, what a neat nativity set! And the memories it made through the years…what a gift. Christmas blessings to you and your family. Thanks for sharing!
Melissa, that is precious. I’m glad you have the nativity sets to cherish from your loved ones…and the hope of seeing your parents again one day. Christmas prayers and blessings for you this year. Thank you so much for coming by and sharing.
Merrillee, somehow that doesn’t surprise me! I love it! You remind me of my mother-in-law in that she’s high-energy. I’ll bet your house/decorations look amazing! How wonderful that your family gets to enjoy your hard work. Merry Christmas and thank you for coming by!
Sara, I imagine the moves were rough on decorations. I’m glad you have the memories of them. I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas! I love the open the lid ministry that you do. Blessings and thanks for coming by.
Trixi, my mother-in-law loves PM too! She has the nativity and various figurines in her home. Hey, last minute works! LOL~ Christmas is in 10 days… can you believe it? Have fun decorating! :-) Thank you for stopping by.
Hey! I never thought about putting that in one of my books. I’ll have to do that. Thank you!! Florida for Christmas? No snow? But at least you’ll get to see the ocean, right? It’s supposed to be 70 degrees here Christmas Day. Can you believe that? If it’s going to be that warm, I’d at least like to be at the beach lol. Cheryl, have a very Merry Christmas!!! I’ll be thinking about you and praying for you. If you see a snowflake, you’ll know it’s me praying!