Virtual Christmas Tour 2009

**Warning- very long and picture filled post**

I regularly read the blog, "The Shown Family", written by Shelly Shown. She created a 'virtual' Christmas tour of her favorite Christmas decorations this year, and encouraged those of us who read her blog to do the same. Here's my attempt at giving you a tour of the Furedy home at Christmas time. I did NOT take photos of all of our Christmas decorations. None of you have the time or patience for that experience! I would also like you to note that we are not a fancy 'decor' type family... so our decorations don't all match and aren't fancy. They are things that we have collected over the years- things that are special and have special meaning to us.

Here is the main tree in the living room. (yes, I will admit, this is on one of the 3 Christmas trees in our house...) We've had an artificial tree for the last ten years or so... turns out that I am allergic to Christmas trees... so the artificial is our only choice. We got this tree last year- it is a 9 and a half footer... and Joe is NOT happy every time that it has to come in or out of the attic. But I LOVE this tree. It is one of my FAVORITE things. The ornaments are ecelctic.. things that we have collected or made over the years.

Below is the "Kids Tree". This tree came into being about four years ago. The kids ornament collection was growing quickly, and they wanted something that was all their own. This tree is ugly. It came from Big Lots and it is really sparse. But, the kids love it. They love to decorate it. They love that it is in their play area. We keep the advent stories under this tree- we read up in the loft every night by this tree.

I didn't take a lot of photos of the outside lights. We didn't do a lot outside this year (we've had a few challenges in getting our outside chores done... can't imagine why!) but I did want to share these lights that the kids put up in the back yard. This is the first year we've done any lights in the backyard- these are on the kids playstructure.. Our house faces an open lot behind us, and can be seen from Baseline Road.

I really like candles during the holidays. This is one of my favorite ones. I bought it several years ago at the Decor Store. I fell in love with it that day... and I still love it. I actually leave this one out on a shelf year round, but it lives on the dining room table during the Christmas season. This will be the centerpiece for our very special Christmas Eve dinner.
Below are my lebkuchen tins. Lebkuchen are German cookies served at the holidays. These are a throwback to my childhood. I was born in Germany and my parents brought back a lot of German traditions when we moved back to the States. I have ALWAYS loved these tins. My parents bought me the two little tins- and the big tin was a gift from someone at work who was going to get rid of it and asked me if I would like to have it. She had no idea what it meant to me!

This is one of my newest decorations. This is another German decoration. My parents have something similar to this that they got while they were in Germany. You light the candles at the bottom and the rising hot air makes the center portion turn. The kids were amazed by this when we showed them how it worked. I found this decoration at Tuesday Morning. It was WAY more expensive than anything tht I would normally buy... but again, it just brought back a flood of childhood memories... and I just HAD to have it!

Below is a sign that hangs in our house year round... along with the beautiful poinsetta that Colin bought for me. He told Joe that he really wanted to buy me a poinsetta... and Joe took him to get it. I just love how beautiful and lush it looks- and the fact that my two favorite men bought it for me makes it even more special.

Next are the Christmas card displays. I send/ receive a lot of cards- truthfully it is one of my favorite parts of Christmas, and so I need more than one spot to display them. My mom made the snowman- isn't he cute? Normally I take a lot of time arranging the cards- but this year honestly- I've pretty much just plopped them in the holders.
This wreath is another new addition to the decorations this year. I made this Thanksgiving night. I got all the supplies 50% off at Hobby Lobby and put it all together. These are the first LED lights that we've purchased, and I have to admit that I really like them. I wish the bow at the top was better lit.. I am very proud of that bow! This hangs in the entry way of our home.
Here's the Christmas village. I have pretty much given over the arrangement of this part of the decorations to Julia and Colin. Thus, it is pretty cluttered! They love it though... and it looks different pretty much every day...

This shows what we do to the stair railings... this goes all the way up the stairs and also around the loft (you could see some of this in the Kid's Tree photo). I have done the lighted garland and the bows since we lived in our first house... this is typically one of the first decorations that I put out each year.

Are you sick of listening to all of this yet? Just want to share one last thing. This is probably one of my favorite decorations- the gum drop tree. One of my favorite childhood Christmas memories was doing the gum drop tree. And now, the kids and I do it each year together... and I know that it is becoming one of their favorite memories too... I know some people may think that I am NUTS for all of these decorations. I know Joe thinks I am crazy every year when he starts getting the boxes out of the attic. I really do enjoy looking at all of these things during the month of December. I think you can probably tell that from the length of this post- picking just a few favorite decorations proved impossible for me! I love being reminded of my childhood. And I know that I am creating those same types of positive memories for my own children. I am creating right now the things that will bring smiles to their hearts when I am gone and all they have are memories.

Alright, this post has gone on LONG ENOUGH. Have a wonderful night all....

C