From my home to your home – Have a Blessed Christmas and best wishes for the New Year!
I have had this simple creche gracing our home during the Christmas season every year since 1970.
Category: Decorating for the Holidays
THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE
I stumbled upon the Legend of the Christmas Tree while going through boxes of old Christmas Cards.
Today, the Christmas tree is the highlight of our Christmas festivities. Topped with a star, and adorned with lights and ornaments, it is a part of the beauty and meaning of the Christmas season.
How did the Christmas tree come to play such an important part in the observance of Christmas? There is a legend that comes down to us from the early days of Christianity in England.
One of those helping to spread Christianity among the Druids was a monk named Wilfred (later Saint Wilfred). One day, surrounded by a group of his converts, he struck down a huge Oak tree, which, in the Druid religion, was an object of worship.
As the Oak tree fell to the ground, it split into four pieces, and from its center there grew a young Fir tree, pointing a green spire toward the sky.
The crowd gazed in amazement. Wilfred let his axe drop, and turned to speak.
“This little tree shall be your Holy Tree tonight. It is the wood of peace, for your houses are built of the Fir. It is the sign of an endless life, for its leaves are evergreen. See how it points toward the heaven. Let this be called the tree of the Christ Child. Gather about it, not in the wilderness, but in your homes. There it will be surrounded with loving gifts and rites of kindness.”
And to this day, that is why the Fir Tree is one of our loveliest symbols of Christmas.
WISHING YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Until next time, stop and smell the roses.
Rosalinda R Morgan, “The Rose Lady”
MY LILLIPUT LANE COLLECTION
Some people have Dept. 56 collection. I have a Lilliput Lane Collection.
It all started when I saw that little house in a Carroll Reed catalogue years ago. Usually, the catalogue only advertised fine quality clothes but in one of their catalogues, I noticed a Lilliput Lane house. I fell in love with the English cottage and that started my Lilliput Lane collecting. I am an anglophile and I just love these cottages with thatched roof. My children started giving me a Lilliput Lane cottage for Christmas. Then the garden center near my home in Long Island started selling them and they ran a sale after Christmas for half price. That was when I started buying the bigger cottages. Now, I have 19 cottages and two churches. Later on I got a mailing from Lenox China selling castles. I decided to buy two of them, the Neuschwanstein castle and the Falkenstein castle. I bought some pine trees and then started displaying my collection every Christmas season.
Merry Christmas!
Until next time, stop and smell the roses.
Rosalinda
Get your copy today at www.amazon.com/author/rosalindarmorgan.
DECK THE HALLS the simple and inexpensive way
“Deck the halls with boughs of holly” sums up the mood in every household everywhere for the next few weeks. Decorating for the holidays sometimes can be so daunting, time consuming and worst of all expensive. It should not be that way.
I used to live in a century-old Victorian house and for the exterior decoration, I had blue lights on a swag of greens with a wreath in the middle on the porch railings. A wreath of greenery with a few sprigs of berries, pine cones and some red flowers in a florist vial with a large ribbon is a fresh welcome sign at your door. Swags of greenery with berries and silver and gold grapevine draped at the stairway banister add to the festive mood. To deviate from the traditional mistletoe, you can make a red rose kissing ball by inserting cut red roses into a water-soaked sphere-shaped oasis and hanging it with a green ribbon. Several big red or blue ornaments in a large silver bowl make a great statement on your coffee table or on the hall table. Citrus fruits studded with cloves, wrapped with tulle and tied with colorful ribbons make wonderful pomanders and displayed in an attractive bowl.
For an innovative arrangement, pick a clear glass vase and fill it with cranberries and top it off with white roses. Red and white or gold and blue are always a good combination during the holidays. You can also do a table setting with vignettes of candles, group of various containers of red flowers, berries, and different shades of greens. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different combinations. Another simple arrangement is a wicker basket big enough to accommodate four pots of mini poinsettia or red flowering plants. You might want to add some greens around the edges of the basket, tie a big red bow for a Christmas basket and presto! You’re done. A red or gold tablecloth will always look grand during the holidays.
You don’t have to spend a fortune to make your home festive. Go outside and pick up some branches from any tree or shrub. Scatter them on table tops, shelves, sideboard and mantelpiece. When entertaining for the holiday, tuck a red rose inside the napkin ring or an individual bouquet of three roses with some greens in a mint julep cup which you hand to your guest when they leave as a party favor.
Enjoy the Christmas Season!!!
Until next time, stop and smell the roses.
Rosalinda
Get your copy today at www.amazon.com/author/rosalindarmorgan.
Rosalinda R Morgan 