God's Warrior
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Christmas in My Heart and HomeChristmas is my favorite holiday of the entire year.
The main reason I love Christmas is because it celebrates the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a joyous time in the lives of my family members. In future posts I may recall some of my family memories and put them into words to share with everyone, but for now I will post some of the pictures I took this past Christmas.
I have always had a wonderful time decorating for Christmas. My chosen theme has always been an "Old Fashioned Christmas".
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God's Warrior
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Our Christmas Trees
We have always cut our own cedar trees in the woods and decorated them in very old fashioned ways. That is the kind of tree we had at home when I was growing up and I have continued that tradition to this day. The smell of the tree in the house always brings wonderful memories of past Christmases that come streaming back into my thoughts.
My older sister, Bobbie, pictured here, taught me how to decorate our tree when I was very young.
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She was a real stickler for having the shiny icicles hung straight just like they would hang outside if they were real. She always comes from Houston to visit us each Christmas and we decorate the tree together. (That is one of my favorite things that we do each year.) We still make sure that the icicles hang straight as an arrow... for the first day at least. After people throw the ones that fall to the floor back on, they become rather clumped but that is part of the fun. Almost anyone bending down to get something from under the tree will wind up with icicles in their hair or on their backs.
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God's Warrior
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My dear husband is the "tree gatherer" in the family. We have trees that vary in size from year to year. Sometimes they are quite tall and big around. Other years they are about the size of the one in the picture. The huge trees have to be put in a room other than the room in the picture. That room has a very tall ceiling and often the trees reach all the way to the ceiling. Whatever size tree the "tree gatherer" brings home is the one we use and are thrilled to decorate. We did find that we were better able to gather around that tree and actually see everyone better than we had been in the past with really big trees. I have pretty much concluded that it is easier to deal with a reasonably sized tree also. Of course, what I think this year won't have anything to do with what I will want next year. Hey! I am a woman, so that is ok! 
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God's Warrior
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When my husband and I first married my mother gave us an angel to put on the top of our tree. My precious little plastic angel has always graced the top of each and every one of our trees. She perches there each year and reminds me of my beloved mother who loved Christmas so very much and taught her children to love it as much as she did. She has been gone from this earth and has been in heaven for many years. She died at age 52 of breast cancer but her memories linger on in the traditions that my family has kept through the years that were a part of my childhood.
P.S. - The angel is now 54 years old. She has held up quite well, don't you think? (Lots better than i have. )
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God's Warrior
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When they were still living at home, my two daughters and I used to create a lot of craft items. We loved to make and sell various "soft" crafts and also enjoyed making lots of our own Christmas ornaments and decorations. Some of the things we made have become outdated and were consequently discarded. Others have been sold, thrown away or given away. I will show you a few of the ones that I still have and use every Christmas.
This picture (showing my two daughters) was taken in my home this past Christmas. That is Lynn on the right in the green shirt and Annette in the middle. The cute guy is Annette's hubby.
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God's Warrior
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This is a "Skinny" Santa that I saw in a picture. I copied it just by using my imagination.
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His head and torso are made in one piece of unbleached domestic. The face is lightly dabbed with rouge or acrylic paints that have been almost all dabbed off the dry brush. The features are made with acrylic paints. The brown legs (husband's old sock) and green arms are sewn on separately. His black belt is just a black fabric band tied at his side. The bag is burlap stuffed with fiberfill. Lots of materials can be used for the hair. I used a wool looking - backed fabric from the fabric store. His robe and hat are made from red cotton fabric. I put a white pom-pom on the tip of the hat. I didn't hem the robe but did turn under the edges on the sleeves. I also turned under the neck area and the hat edges.
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God's Warrior
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I made these little cats using the same simple pattern for each.
They hang on the tree every year. They can be made out of many different fabrics and decorated many different ways.
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Click to see full size image
My daughter, Lynn, made the little baskets filled with hemlock cones. She made, sold and gave away many of them years ago. The ribbon on the basket is red velvet. I still put several of them on the tree each year.
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God's Warrior
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My daughter Annette made these darling angels a very long time ago. They always hang on the tree.
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Click to see full size image
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God's Warrior
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I made this small bell wreath. It hangs on the doorknob by a red ribbon that I tie in a bow around the knob. That way it jingles when the door opens and closes. I just gathered the bells on a med. weight wire. The bow is tiny satin ribbon.
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God's Warrior
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Annette made lots of these chickens to sell one year. She also made lots of the little sheep. They are on our tree each year.
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I made the clothespin doll. She even has on a petticoat and pantaloons under her skirt. Such tiny work.....
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God's Warrior
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These little ornaments are easy to do using any kind of small vine and a simple counted cross stitch pattern. That is dried Spanish moss used as an accent.
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God's Warrior
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This is a small wooden ornament that stays out all year long. One side suggests Christmas and the other side is plain. I just flip it over every December and back again in January.
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Click to see full size image
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God's Warrior
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My daughter Lynn made this little yo yo wreath when she was a young teenager. The materials in the wreath have memories for both of us. The tiny yo yos were stuffed with a little bit of cotton to give them body. They were strung on a medium weight craft wire.
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God's Warrior
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I made these ornaments out of frozen orange juice lids . I penciled on the design and then used a hammer and a nail to punch out the design. (Be sure to put a board underneath if you try this.) The paint is just plain acrylics. This would be a good craft for kids to do. Just don't let them put the lid on your good furniture to punch it. That would give you one memory too many for those ornaments. They can hold the nail in place by using a pair of pliers to steady it. That would cut down on the banged fingers too.
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God's Warrior
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This one was made from some left over stuff. I like it because of its simplicity. This wreath is made from a honeysuckle vine. I make a lot of wreaths of all sizes from honeysuckle vines.
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I pick up plain wreaths at garage sales for very little money and then add whatever suits my fancy at the moment. The snowman, tree and star are stuffed with cotton and then stiffened with a product bought at the craft store. Paint them with acrylic paints.
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God's Warrior
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This simple ornament stays out all year long. It is mostly self explanatory. The small circle item is a button of appropriate color and size.
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God's Warrior
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I didn't create these items bu t I think they would be very easy to make. Therefore, I am posting them here for everyone to copy.
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Click to see full size image
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Click to see full size image
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God's Warrior
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I bought these but I have plans to use the idea for making gift tags or cards in the future. The patterned objects and backgrounds are made of felt.
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CajuninKy
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Beautiful. You are very crafty. I look forward to more pictures. Thanks for sharing.
We used to go all out in our Christmas decorations but 1 year the water came up and ruined all our things ( we stored them under our elevated house down the bayou) and we've never had the heart to start over. I do set the table with the Christmas dishes and we put up a small tree but that is about the extent of it. I do like to hang the Christmas cards we get every year.
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Roadrunner
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 Ellen...I enjoyed my tour of your Christmas things...can I come for the Holidays?? Jo
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God's Warrior
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You surely can. You are welcome in the winter as well as the summer. My sister gets the guest bed the week before and the week after Christmas however.
Just bring along some chocolate and you will be more than welcome.
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God's Warrior
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I have collections of many different sorts. Several of them are angels, bears, cats, Santa's, bells and many antique items, both large and small. I don't have enough display space for all of my "treasures" so I rotate them so that things seldom stay the same in my decorating schemes. When i get my Christmas stuff down from the attic, I just choose the boxes and bins that I will use each time on current whims. Therefore, nothing is ever the same when I combine what I bring down. Since I never remember what is in the bins, some things only make it to the decorating stage occasionally rather than every year. Here are a few of the combinations I have used this year.
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God's Warrior
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This old bread board and wooden bowl seemed to need some color so i combined them with the wooden apples and put a couple of my snow people there to add a touch of lightness.
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I liked the rustic look of this Santa and placed him with a candle and a rustic looking raffia bow
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God's Warrior
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This Santa seemed to fit nicely with this tin tree.
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This Santa is holding some greenery that I matched by using the reindeer made of the same material.
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God's Warrior
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This large one graces the top of my large library table.
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My daughter gave me this cinnamon bear a couple of years ago and he still smells like cinnamon. (An ordinary teddy bear was coated in cinnamon smelling wax.) I placed him on a trivet and surrounded him with silk greenery. He sits in the center of my antique ice dream parlor table.
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God's Warrior
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This old woven pine needle basket holds white flowers that tie in with the white clothing of the angel. I found the stars at a yard sale this past summer and liked them with this angel. The collection sits on the marble top of an antique dresser.
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These charming corn shuck angels were made and given to me by my dear friend Melody and they get to stay out on display the year round.
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God's Warrior
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This nativity scene got a new home in a container that I have had for over 40 years, When it was new it was filled with dirt and an assortment of small plants and little figures. It went to the attic many years ago. I decided to resurrect it and brought it down several days ago. The camel in the scene is from the Holy Land and was given to me by my mother over 50 years ago.
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The antique picture is spending the winter sitting on the top of my antique rolltop desk
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