Favourite Things Friday: Christmas Edition, Part II

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
–Charles Dickens

There are so many things about Christmas that I love. Last week, I shared couple of favorites and today I have a few more of my favorite things about Christmas.

Nativity
I love this simple little Nativity set. I think that the colored accents against the mostly white porcelain is just so pretty. I love to look at it and remember the real reason for Christmas

Ornaments
I have little brass Christmas tree ornament that my mom got for me in 1978. Etched into it is a little girl sitting on a rug wrapping a pile of presents and my name is engraved on it. It fits me perfectly — always busy with some project or another. It is one of my favorite ornaments. When we put up our tree, it is tradition at Bug Cottage to get a new ornament to unwrap and put on the tree. I have them personalized and dated so we can remember. Sometimes I get coordinating ornaments, like in 2004 when we were all snowmen. Sometimes I get something to commemorate an occasion, like when I was pregnant with LadyBug at Christmas of 2001 and my ornament was a little figurine of a pregnant woman, or our ornaments from 2005 are Mickey and Minnie Mouses in teacups because we went to Disneyland that year. When I can find an ornament for couples, I do that for Mr. Bug and me, and have both our names put on it. And sometimes I do individual ornaments, like these from last year. I fell in love with these miniature snow globes that stand barely 2" high. Each of the snowmen is different and when you shake them, it snows, of course

This is a special collection of ornaments was made my a very special neighbor of mine. She makes about a hundred-and-fifty wooden ornaments every year and distributes them to neighbors and friends. The little bear in the top left corner is from 2001 and they go chronologically to last year's, the little sled in the bottom right. This year is the first year in I'm not sure how long {she's been doing it since before we were neighbors} that she didn't do ornaments. We were talking about it a few months ago and I told her I knew how much stress and work it was for her and told her she shouldn't make herself crazy trying to get them done. I really meant it, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that she actually didn't do ornaments this year because I always look forward to seeing her cute creations.

Christmas Tree

After showing you my favorite ornaments, it is only natural to show you my tree, because what is Christmas without a tree? Despite the hassle of hauling it home from the lot/out of storage and wrestling lights onto it, it just wouldn't be Christmas without a pretty tree. I bought this tree one year after Christmas on clearance for $29.99 and it is pre-lit. That's why it is one of my favorite things! I only put the personalized ornaments and a few other special ones on this year because I didn't want it to look overcrowded but I think it looks a little sparse. I left off all the red and green ornaments and as well as my collection of Santa Claus ornaments. Someday, I hope to have enough Santa ornaments to do a whole Santa-themed tree.

A Christmas Carol
Last week I mentioned that I was looking forward to the Dr. Who Christmas special, which is a time-traveling version of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. I think the telling and re-telling of the tale is essential to Christmas. I love all the different versions. And among my favorites is The Muppet Christmas Carol. The Muppets, in and of themselves, are one of my favorite things. I love the humor and the music. Grasshopper and I watched it together the other day, and had a really great time. I wanted to share a musical number, but I had a really hard time deciding which clip I wanted to use. I debated back and forth and watched them each at least four times and decided that I'll share both and let you pick if you watch one or both or none.




Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!
xo -E

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