” Joy to the World, THE LORD is Come. Let Earth Receive Her King.”
My globes and chalkboards were posted on All Things Grandma over a year ago. They weren’t in a Christmas setting then, but this year they are. Some of the globes are “altered” and some are exactly the way I found them. I used half of my collection for this year’s mantle.
I like the part of the song where
we are reminded to “prepare Him room” in our hearts.
If you follow All Things Grandma, you might remember the time when I used bottle-brush animals to make angels and other members of the Nativity. I made bottle brush pigs into shepherds and bottle brush bears into Wise Men. These little penguins are singing with such Joy. Their books are open and their voices are harmonizing as Baby Jesus sleeps in his manger.
What to do with my Christmas Village made of bird houses? It has always been on the mantle.
Little hands have already found the bird house village. It didn’t go far. Afton spent an hour or more re-arranging everything. She didn’t know that I was listening. She talked about everything she did and what was going to happen next. She made up an entire Christmas story. That is when I realized that since nothing is breakable, I should always put the village somewhere where little people can handle it.
Warmth, comfort and things that delight the eye and the senses define COZY for me. Homes decorated for Christmas feel like this. But, they can also feel cozy with nothing at all as long as there is love there and the Spirit of Christ.
Dollar store tea lights are perfect for Christmas. I filled the metal bowl in the foreground with bottle brush trees and several lights. Little fingers can play with the trees and turn the lights off and on. It has taken me a few years to collect the trees. They can be expensive before Christmas and hard-to-find after. They are truly old-fashioned reminders of a time gone by.
I LOVE tiny bottle brush trees. These, too, were collected over several years.
They are various sizes and colors of pink, pale green, dark green and white.
I thrifted the beautiful silver dish for $1.
Women and candles. To men and little children they are either “nice” or “stinky”. A three-year-old told me that “there is something in your house that stinks”. She suggested that we hurry and find it. Of course, I knew where it was and I didn’t think it was at all stinky. I thought it smelled heavenly. It was on my counter in the form of a candle called Chestnuts and Apples.
Children have noses like bloodhounds.
I love the mantel and I’m glad you have the village some where little hands can touch it.