Christmas Ornaments With Stories

Every year we seem to acquire new ornaments for  our Christmas tree.  This year I made them myself.  I took a round piece of plastic mesh about 3 inches in diameter.  Then I cut out 4 pictures the same size as the mesh and laminated them.  I placed them on the mesh and then used a needle to poke holes all around the edges of the mesh.  Then I used yarn to fasten the edges together and to hold the pictures in place.  It would be easy to use any sort of picture to make similar ornaments.  In this case, the color side of the ornament has pictures of the woodworkers parents and my parents.

The reverse side of the picture, the black and white side, has the same couples on their wedding days.  They were married almost 2 months apart back in 1946.  I rather liked seeing them on the tree.

The other ornament with a story is really not new.  I am sure one of  our kids made the star many years ago.  It was made from a piece of poster board, cut in the shape of a star, then covered on both sides with festive carousel pony wrapping paper.  Over the years it has been a stalwart ornament for the bottom of the tree while the more breakable ornaments hang higher, out of the reach of small children.  This year we had 7 grandchildren here to help in decorating the tree, so I handed the breakable things to the older children and gave the more sturdy things to the younger children.  Over the years we have had 3 different angels residing on the top of our tree.  The angel always goes on last.

The youngest child this year turned 2 in September and was thrilled to help decorate a Christmas tree.  At home she apparently has a storybook which shows a picture of a baby being held up by its father to place a star on top of the tree. When I handed her the wrapping paper star and told her to put it on the bottom of the tree she resisted strongly and pointed up at the top of the tree and let us know quite emphatically that she knew very well where that star belonged.  After all, she'd seen it in her book!  We called her dad into the room and he lifted her up so she could place that star right where she wanted it.  I kind of liked it there.  Maybe we'll put it there again next year.

It's Christmas Time in the City

We had to take a trip to the city earlier this week for an appointment, so since we had enough points saved up to get us a free motel room for the night we decided we decided to make it a twofer and enjoy the Christmas atmosphere at the same time.  We started off by visiting the City Creek Center which has been there quite a while now, and yet, we have never visited it before.  It covers about four city blocks and is full of various shops, restaurants, a large food court, condominiums and the like.  We live in a desert, but here in the mall, water is everywhere, in fountains, water falls and even a bit of the original City Creek which runs through the building.

 

Our favorite fountain was this rather nondescript looking round one, mostly because every so often it totally changed character and started shooting streams of water and bouncing in time to the musicl

 

The bouncing fountain in action!

 

Here is a bit of City Creek running through the middle of the mall.

Still shot of the 'bouncing' fountain.

 We decided on Greek food for lunch and ate it near the play area of the food court which was full of dinosaurs and children playing on, under, around and over the dinosaurs.  They all seemed to be having a good time.

The woodworker's preferred buffet would have been here, but it was a little pricey!

Just so you know this was a high class place, in addition to getting your child's picture taken with Santa, you can see they have also set aside times for pet pictures as well.




....and should you ever need a taxi for your pet, this is the place for you!

 After exploring for several hours, we checked into our motel and then headed back to town just as the sun was setting.  We arrived at our destination just before 5 PM and it all looked fairly bleak and wintery, but just as it turned to 5PM, all the lights came on at once!  It looked like a fairy land.

On one wide lawn there was a nativity scene displayed.  Here are the wise men arriving on their camels.

Here is the stable...

....and the shepherds abiding .....

Under the eaves of the domed building (seen behind the stable)  a warning is displayed.  It only makes sense that snow and ice would not stay securely on a slick, domed roof.

When we went inside the nearby visitor's center to warm up, we found some intriguing chairs...well, intriguing to woodworkers....

The main part of this white nativity is situated on a reflecting pool, so surrounded by lights floating on the water.  Nearby were the shepherds and animals.

As we were leaving, we noticed this electrical box with multiple fat cables emerging from it.  I guess it would take something like that to keep all those lights going.

It was a perfect night for viewing the sights...just a few inches of snow to make everything sparkle, yet clear roads and sidewalks for safe and easy walking and driving.


I wish I could say the same for the next morning.  We had a 10 AM appt. about 30 miles to the north of our motel.  The weather report said that we had an unusual event for our area....freezing rain....followed by snow, so we decided to give ourselves plenty of time and left at 8:30 AM.  First we had to clean off the car, which was encased in a layer of ice, topped off by snow.

After a mere 2 1/2 hours we finally arrived at our destination!  The freeway more closely resembled a parking lot.  South of us part of the freeway had to be closed because some power poles had caught on fire and then spilled their live wires onto the road.  Fortunately, by the time we finished at the VA, the layer of ice under the snow had turned to slush, so we were able to make our way back home, where we found 8-10 inches of fresh snow...and thanks to good neighbors....a freshly plowed driveway!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving lasted 2 1/2 days at our house....for which we were very thankful.  Some folks sat patiently at the table waiting for the feast...although one was busily signing 'more' before he even got any food!  Some folks had to get a close up preview of the meal to come.

 In the background on the right, under the window is a fully loaded pie table to go with the rest of the feast...pumpkin, key lime, eggnog, cherry, chocolate, banana cream, rhubarb and pecan.   It is amazing how much damage 14 people can do to a turkey in a single meal!

In addition to feasting, during the weekend we made Christmas ornaments, watched some movies, made candy canes, sang Christmas carols, prepared toys to be donated to a local charity and played at the local park. 

Spending time with family is the very best part of the holiday.

Making Toys

Over the Thanksgiving weekend we were excited to have many visitors...among them 7 of our grandchildren.  Over the years they have helped the woodworker with various projects in the garage.  This weekend was no different.  The woodworker has been busy tracing and cutting out wooden toys.

Some of the grandchildren helped out with sanding the toys...

and adding the wheels.

There was quite a fleet of toys by the time they all finished.

Later they took the toys and donated them to a local agency that helps children and families.

At this season, doing a little giving is a good way to show gratitude for all of our blessings.