IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS.

since we had our thanksgiving meal so late... we did our post-thanksgiving tradition of Christmas decorating while the turkey was roasting.

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as a kid, i used to read "the little house on the prairie" books - i really envied the joyous holidays the ingalls family celebrated. (the one with mr. edwards was my favorite!) and the tv show's depictions were great too! i loved the careful and secretive making of gifts... i loved the thought that went into the surprises... they didn't just run to the mall and throw tons of foreign-made cheaply made toys in the buggy. there was real thought, real effort... real love in those gifts.

the older i get, the more i want to concentrate on the spiritual meaning of the holiday. the more i see the rampant commercialism in society, the more i want to emphasize the sharing, the giving, the hoping, the loving aspects of the Christmas season.

our kids are grown now... so i don't feel the need to use all twenty-five plastic tote boxes of Christmas decorations that i have amassed over the years... i feel the need to simplify.

so we used only decorations that had meaning for us...

this is a new addition to our stash of all things Christmas-y: a charlie brown Christmas tree. "a charlie brown Christmas" is one of our favorite holiday dvds. so when i saw this in the store... i just knew we had to have it! (actually, i bought two... one for home and one for sugar daddy's office)

sugar daddy has a real love for scrawny bedraggled trees... he always picks one that he thinks no one else will buy...so when we go tree shopping, we always end up with a real doozy... we laugh and joke about it... take it home and decorate it.

it's always the most beautiful tree that we ever had.

so you see why i had to buy it... right? lol

here our our advent candles. we have been lighting the advent candles for a few years now... it's a nice tradition that really helps me (and hopefully the whole family) to concentrate on the meaning of the season.

here is my metal wreath (that way, i don't buy a new one every year)
(sorry about the pic... it was dark)

here is one of my most-prized possessions... a Nativity set. no, it's not an antique... but it has great sentimental value to me. this set was bought from home interiors, in six installments.

i got my first job at 15, working in a restaurant. home interiors was very popular with the employers there... even some of the customers got involved... it seemed every other week someone was having a home interior party.

every year, for my mother's christmas present, i bought the newest installment until the set was completed... she has had it for over 20 years. she put it out every year until a few of years ago. in fact, she always put it out on this particular piece of furniture... which she gave to me.

that Christmas, when she pulled out the Nativity set, she couldn't find an appropriate place to display it and asked me if i would like to have it. she said that it seemed to her that the set and the buffet just seemed to belong together. and would i like to have it?

i felt weird about it at first... but she explained that it had always been her intention to pass it back to me... she had enjoyed it for twenty years and could continue to enjoy it at my house. she knew how i loved and treasured it and wanted me to take it.

it graces the buffet every year... just looking at it makes me feel joyous!

even though, it doesn't really "go" with the set, i continue to use my mother's addition to the set: a silver (maybe foil) and blue star that she remembers being on top of her childhood Christmas tree. she thinks it may have been on the first Christmas tree after her oldest brother was born... so it is at least 60 years old.. maybe even 70. (of course, the bulb is new... not old)...

it is getting flimsy and one day, i may have to retire it... or find a safer way to display it... but i will enjoy it for now.

also on top of the buffet, flanked by candles, is a wooden box containing the traditional gifts of the Magi: gold, frankincense & myrrh.

so that is the extent of our decorating here in Greenville... we will decorate in Temple next weekend. it's a little more elaborate because we actually celebrate Christmas day in Temple.
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QUESTION: what are you doing for the holidays? are you changing the way the way you celebrate due to economic issues or a change in your belief system?