A Christmas Tradition

 

Families everywhere have holiday traditions that enrich the lives of their children.

One tradition in my own family is decorating homemade gingerbread houses.

We have done this for many decades.

                                                                                                                                                                         

Some years there was hardly any money for candies to put onto the house but we somehow managed to scrape enough together to do it.

The dollar stores have always been  good places to find small bags of candy that would enable us to have a good variety.

If candies are left from Halloween, we use those, too.

Last year, there was not enough time to make the houses from scratch so we bought a gingerbread kit in a box. 

It turned out to be a real disaster and made the local grands yearn for the homemade variety.

This year, when my newly teenage granddaughter said, "Grandma, can we decorate a gingerbread house this year?,"  my heart said "Yes, yes, yes."

So dough for two houses was mixed, spread, baked, and cut into shapes of roofs, sides, fronts and backs of houses.

The kids had a blast decorating the gingerbread creations. 

Once I'm gone from this earth, the kids will surely remember decorating gingerbread houses with Grammie!

Third Sunday of Advent

We are coming closer and closer to Christmas.

This is the third Sunday of Advent for Christians.

It means we light the pink candle on the advent wreath.

The little child's manger scene, shown in this post, is absolutely adorable. 

When a button on the bottom is pushed, a light comes on and shines down on the whole scene with the Baby Jesus.

Also, a child's voice begins to tell the story of the Nativity.

While many manger scenes have made the cut to keep for now, this one is definitely one of my favorites.

You are one of my favorites, too!

Decorating Kitchen Knick Knack Cubby

The kitchen knick knack cubby is a top notch favorite thing to decorate for Christmas.

There are many little decorations in each cubby.

The reindeer bears who hang out on the top, purchased in Tucson, Arizona,  have been faves for a couple of decades.

It's a guarantee that some little itsy bitsy decoration is bound to be added each Christmas season.

It's just so much fun to decorate the cubbies.

It's also a perfect holiday decorating solution to someone who has very little space to feature "big" decorations.

Here comes a Happy Merry (Little) Christmas to All!

A December Surprise

 

Every day we wake up and get out of bed is cause for celebration.

Today, however, there is extra cause for being super happy!

Glancing at the kitchen counter,  some gorgeous pink colored blooms catch my eyes.

There, in all her splendorous glory, stands Christmas cactus!

The plant food and extra water have done their magic.

Christmas cactus is in bloom and well within the time frame of Christmas Day!

What a lovely way to start the day, don't you think?

DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING BLOOMING DURING THE CHRISTMAS SEASON?

Spontaneous Collection of Sweeties

Like most collections, the sweet little angel figures were never planned to be a collection. 

 It just evolved, with the addition of each darling figure.

The one at the top has a cartful of stars!

Every single one is precious.

And they go perfectly with my tiny favorite angel baby, shown below:

HAVE YOU EVER ENDED UP WITH AN UNPLANNED COLLECTION OF SOMETHING?