Decking the halls

According to family tradition, we put up our Christmas decorations on the day after Thanksgiving. Usually we watch “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” while decorating. But since Chris was working on homework and didn’t want to miss watching the movie, Avery and I just listened to some of our favorite Christmas CDs.

Avery had her own decorations to unpack. She spent a lot of time setting up and playing with her Fisher Price nativity set. She loves all of the animals and people, especially Baby Jesus. That little baby is carried all over the house. (And at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, Baby Jesus rides on the electric train!) But thank goodness He always ends up back in the stable with His mommy and daddy.

Chris took a break from homework to help Avery hang the stockings.

Next we decorated the tree. Each year, I love pulling out the ornaments and reminiscing about the memories behind each one. This year, I got to explain each ornament’s significance to Avery.

I’ll share some of these memories with you, too!

Casey’s wife, Elvie, loves all things Disney. So it’s only appropriate that she gave us this Minnie Mouse ornament with their family picture. Now we need a new picture that includes Caden!

Although this technically is a football referee, this is still an awesome ornament. After all, how many referee ornaments have you seen in the stores?

My cousin Lori Anne gave me this adorable pregnant snowman ornament the Christmas before Avery was born. Just like the referee above, how often do you see a maternity-themed ornament? :o)

Eleven years ago, my parents and I visited my sister in England while she spent a semester studying there. In London I picked up this ornament of a Buckingham Palace guard.

I can’t tell you about our Christmas tree ornaments without showing a Lucy ornament. This one depicts Lucy taking ballet lessons in the episode “The Ballet.” I may have a lot of Lucy ornaments, but Chris has just as many sports ornaments!

Avery helped hang some of her own ornaments. Every year we get one dated ornament for the family and one for Avery. Her ornament this year features Curious George, one of her favorite characters.

Chris is always responsible for putting the star on the top of the tree. My arms are too short to handle this task!

Besides our tree ornaments, we have many other decorations with special meanings. I decided to share some of them with you.

After moving to Tucson, my grandma fell in love with DeGrazia, an artist who specialized in southwestern art. My grandparents featured much of his work in their home, especially in the form of needlepoint crafted by my grandma. This is another one of DeGrazia’s items, a beautiful Hispanic nativity set featured inside a small glass box. Looking at this unique nativity scene always makes me think of Grandma Hromada.

Avery loves naming everyone in each nativity scene she sees.

Here’s another precious nativity scene. This one belonged to my Grandma Rork. My sister and I proudly displayed this set in our bedroom when we were younger.

Chris’ mom bought him this mini-Christmas tree several years ago. It features teddy bears sitting on basketballs and soccer balls. Since he’s a two-sport referee, it’s like this tree was made just for him!

I hope you enjoyed a small glimpse into our family Christmas decorations!