Monday, December 26, 2011

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I do love Christmas time! I don't know why it's so special to me...wait!
Yes, I do know! It's special because of a baby.
A baby who's birth changed everything in this world. A baby that came to save you and to save me from our sins. Yes, that's why Christmas is to be celebrated and enjoyed and I did thoroughly enjoy it this year but, differently than other years past.
I thought I would share some of our decorations.
I am sure at some point in my life I might forget and this will be a nice way to look back.
When you walk through our front door, the first decoration you see is our Nativity Scene.
I love this. It's not without it's charm from little chips and breakage over the years but, that just makes it more unique.

It looks very pretty at night with the candles lit around in it.
And now I present to you the Hanselman Family Good Ole Fashioned Christmas Mantel 2011! Each year I try to do something different on the mantel and this year it was a challenge as I am still recovering from my back surgery and I can't bend over, stretch or lift.
So, guess how this happened this year? Yes. My daughter did it all while I sat on the couch and gave directions and pointed and probably drove her nuts!
But, she did a good job. I like it!
Oh, and we had a few really cold days in December this year and Ray would get the fire going and well, all I liked to do and sit on the couch and stare at it!
Don't think too badly of me, I am still having to rest a lot.
Another angle for you to see and for me to remember, right?
I do love, love, these lanterns.
You could get some for your mantel if you like them at TJ Maxx or Marshalls.
I think they will get to stay up there for the winter mantel when the Christmas decorations come down.
Because there are seven of us, and the fireplace is stone and we aren't chiseling any nail holes in it...the stockings hang over here on the staircase banister.
It's a nice place to hang them.
I love the stocking tradition. Yesterday, I waited until night to open mine just to spread out the fun. Getting a new toothbrush really gets me excited. I know I could buy one at anytime but, I don't know, it's just more fun to open one from my stocking.
Thanks, Ray!
Here's the rest of the banister with the Living room tree.
It's just filled with colored balls this year. We usually put all our music ornaments on it.
When you play the piano, after many years, you start to collect a lot of things with musical instruments, etc. But, this year,
they rested.
Here's the dining room. We ate one meal in here this season.
It was our Christmas lunch. You may notice only 4 table-settings. We had a very small celebration but, it was fabulous to us!
Since I only had a green tablecloth that fits this table, I just went with green ornaments and touches of silver and gold.
I have never done the buffet like this but, I think it turned out just fine.
We bought nothing for any of this.
We just mixed and matched things we had.
Rachel learned this year how much work it is to decorate for Christmas. She was a trooper. I am thankful for her doing all the hard work for me.
My back is very thankful also.
We usually have these dishes somewhere else in the house but, they all came together nicely.
The cool thing is that some of these things I have had forever.
Some things I have found at the storage in the trash.
Some of the things have come from the dollar bin at Target.
I like.
This mirror underneath was the perfect place to put the centerpiece. I'l hang it back up later...err...I mean Rachel will. Ha!
For Christmas lunch this year we grilled steak and hamburgers.
We had salad, bread and baked potatoes and absolutely no desert.
It was great.
Just Ray, Rachel, Zac and I this year and we took it easy.
My Nikko Christmas China is my favorite!
I get them out usually the night of Thanksgiving and we do use them everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
And look to the right....Rachel gave me new silverware...see the forks???
Oohhh, it's awesome and very heavy.
I have a thing for heavy silverware.
I do not know why.
Food just tastes better on it.
There were other things that made this year special.
We went to a ladies gift exchange party and look at us all dolled up.
Kissy had a beautiful, red, sparkly Christmas dress.
We had a couple of spend the night parties and made cookies and stuff.
And then my family helped me this year to overcome one of my biggest fears.
TURTLENECKS!
I haven't worn a turtleneck since the 5th grade. There is several very long stories that support my hatred of these kind of shirts. I will spare you. But, this year, we all just embraced it, put them on and took a Christmas card photo.
But, as you can see. I was miserable.
And I laughed so hard, it hurt.
The boys were cracking me up!

And to top it off, a dear friend gave me a turtlneck as a gift and I actually put it on just long enough for a photo.
I will have to say that it doesn't look that bad on me.
Hey, if it gets cold enough, you never know I just might show up in it somewhere.
I guess all this pain I've been in has totally confused my mind.
I probably will regret this photo.
I pray your Christmas made memories for you and your family that you will treasure in the years to come. And I pray you know that baby that was born on this day!