Decorating for Christmas

Christmas decorating for us has been very, very blessed since we've lived in Kenai. We moved here with NO Christmas decorations and NO desire to buy and accumulate a bunch of stuff that we'd have to deal with getting rid of or moving in just a couple of years. For two years, an angel sister in our ward literally handed us her boxes of Christmas decorations (TREE AND TRIMMINGS AND ALL!) while she went to Arizona to spend the month with family. This year she has moved away and I wondered what we would do.

I was thinking about what we'd do for a tree when into my remembrance popped (or was inspired?) an image of an artificial tree crouching in a corner in a dark, cold, untouched for years storage room here at the apartments we manage. Jacob went to see if all the pieces were there and lo and behold! we had a tree! I found red and gold bulbs at Joann's for about $2.00, our star was a primary lesson project that Ammon had brought home several weeks earlier and we made red "doves" from the Friend magazine (scroll down to "Bird Ornament"). Our only splurge was getting really cute "Alaska" ornaments for the kids at the craft fair (to add to our Fred Meyer's after Christmas clearance Alaskan ornaments from last year). A cute old lady makes them from bread dough. I love that they are of little Native Alaskan children (Ammon's is on a whale, Abe's is on a little raft playing with a seal and Ziya's is picking berries) and I love that they were made by a real Alaskan lady. A couple of $1 boxes of lights completed our tree. After we got everything up on the tree, Ammon and Abe had fun playing with the camera taking all these close ups of the ornaments.


The same angel sister who loaned us her decorations also gave us this 24 days of Christmas hanging decoration. I've struggled with being creative about what to put in the tiny little pockets. For two years now, we've used it for about a week and then my creativity dwindled and it went forgotten. This year, with the help of the Friend magazine again, I knew exactly what to put in each pocket. I printed this page from the Friend (see the "Activity") and cut out the scriptures to read for each day. They fit perfectly in the pockets, they kept the focus on our Savior and not on candy treats each day, and the kids were excited about it for the whole month (well, almost... we started about a week late!). We missed some days, but it only leaves us room for improvement next year. I actually "laminated" the little scriptures with contact paper and I hope to make this a Christmas tradition for years and years to come.

My talented quilter friend Krista showed me how to make these stockings last year (the kids added a random stocking we had for the baby... he or she will hopefully have a matching one next Christmas), but we didn't have anywhere to hang them. Thanks to our dedicated Enrichment leaders, we had a fantastic Super Saturday activity this year and I made this wood board with vinyl lettering on it.

How could I almost forget my least favorite Christmas decoration? This was a white elephant gift that we got at a staff party our first Christmas here. It almost got snatched away from us (wishful thinking)... This rock n'roll Santa sings and dances when you clap your hands, or when you walk by or when you breathe. Thankfully, in his third year in our home, his performing abilities are dwindling and I actually didn't have to hear too much of him this season. Whew.



When I actually stop for long enough to think about things, I realize just how blessed we are. I know that Christmas decorating shouldn't be such a big deal, but when kids are young, it kind of has to be. I'm just thankful that He who knows the very details of our lives blessed us in so many little (but huge) ways.