Parkside View

While I was growing up, I distinctly remember that one of my favorite elements of Christmastime was the decorations. Now that I'm older, and primarily responsible for getting said decorations in their place and keeping them from the clutches of a nineteen month-old baby, I've had to reconsider. But then, on a whim, I started to take photographs of our decorations so our family would have a visual reminder of how we celebrated...and I got a bit sentimental.

There's the manger with the baby Jesus that we fill with straw throughout the month as we serve others and do good deeds. Jason, his brother, and father cut the wood for forty-something of them so I could give them as a gift to all my young women.

A pre-lit Christmas tree has taken the place of live ones we'd cut down in Heber valley. The decorations are slowly phasing out from glass balls to shatterproof ornaments (and I have given up dreams of trendy turquoise and baby blues for traditional reds and golds that will hopefully last through the years). It is circled at the base by a train that fell victim to Garrett's curiosity and which no longer works. It is now only for looks and for me to put back the tracks from time to time after Garrett tears them apart.

We put a tree in the room of the older boys whereupon we can place handcrafted ornament creations that have come to us courtesy of many preschool and grade school art projects. It is also home to the wooden, toll-painted ornaments that Jason and I made with the help of my sister-in-law when we were newlyweds and couldn't really afford to buy any.

A collection of crèches sit atop the nightstand along with the hand-stitched manger scene that another sister-in-law made for us. I cannot even begin to guess how many glue sticks I went through to make the forty-something popsicle stick nativities (there again for my young women). We also have a manger scene made from origami by my brother-in-law. It is awesome!

I suppose I can see why I liked Christmas decorations so much as a child. They all have personal and significant meaning in their origin, and they all add a touch of nostalgia to the holidays.

This post authored by Amber