Needlework Tuesday Online Christmas Party - Collections

Instead of Needlework Tuesday this week, Heather is hosting an online Christmas party and asked me to "attend" and share something about our Christmas.  I decided to share a few of our decorations.

Some years ago, my husband's sister bought him a Nutcracker for Christmas. Then the next year, she bought him another one. We wondered if she 1) forgot she got him one the year before or 2) was trying to get him to start a collection. We decided it was a "collection" and ran with it from there, usually purchasing one or two a year since then. I'll admit many of them were purchased at after-Christmas sales for a discounted price. There's no sentimentally attached to any of these, so there's no use spending big bucks on them. Here they are on the landing:

There's a candle nutcracker on the window sill still wrapped in plastic.

Many, many, many years ago, my mother had started a collection of nativity pieces from Avon Collectibles. They are now in my hands and I love them. I like that she didn't collect all of the pieces. There's just enough to know it's the nativity, but not too many pieces that take up a lot of room to store or display. Here they are on the mantel (along with a not-so-Christmassy backdrop):

Lastly, our Christmas tree. We usually put up our tree (artificial) around the first week of December and then take the next several days (or even weeks) to do the decorations as time permits. We usually put on Christmas music and do it together. However, this year I already had lots of other things to do...not sure what, but I was busy. I managed to help my husband put up the tree and add the lights, but I then let him take over the decorating. Since he was doing such a great job, I didn't feel the need to step in to "help". "We" had a few missteps, but I decided to "let it go"...almost. For example, I had a few boxes of decorations that were CLEARLY labelled "not for the tree". Sometimes, I like to scatter things around the house either on window sills or in baskets to make each room a little more Christmassy, but somehow these things ended up on the tree anyway. Can you tell I'm the only "reader" in the family? Oh, well. The tree turned out rather well.    Here the tree in the dining room:

Believe it or not, this represents less than half of our decorations.  *sigh*  There are a few vintage pieces, but the rest are part of another "collection" we've amassed over the years.

Thanks for hosting this party, Heather. It's such a brilliant idea. I hope you consider it again for next year. The more the merrier, so if you'd like to take part in the celebrations and share something about your Christmas, head over to Heather's blog, Books and Quilts and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post.

Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year!!