Christmas Decorations

I am looking out the window in my office and watching the snowflakes.  The first snow of the season. It has been a cold, overcast, dreary day.  Definitely a great day to be in my warm home.

The day has been spent talking on the phone and planning for upcoming seminars in the new year.

Last night I began to pull out my Christmas decorations.  Every decoration has a story.  I enjoy reflecting on who gave me the item and what the it means to me.

A red, white and blue round ornament was given to me from a friend at work in 2001.  This Christmas ball was crafted by hand in memory of the victims of 9/11.

Other ornaments were given to my husband and I from my mother-in-law.  She gave us an ornament every Christmas with the year printed on it.

My nativity scene was hand painted by a friend in 1988.  Even though I have not seen this friend in over 20 years, I think of her each Christmas as I pull out Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus.

I will continue to go through the fifteen boxes of decorations so that I can display them throughout the house and think about the family members or friends who gave me the item.  The house will look so festive for the next four weeks.

I always enjoy knowing about the history.  As I googled "history of Christmas decorations", I came across this information.  "The most popular theory holds that the tradition was started by a monk who came to Germany in the 7th/8th century to preach.  It is said that this monk was Saint Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans.  According to history, the saint was the first one to bring the fir tree to the German people to decorate, for he claimed that the triangular shape represented the Holy Trinity - God, his son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  The tradition was lapped up by the devout Germans who started decorating the Christmas tree in a liturgical way with simple, white candles.  Ornaments began to be incorporated into the Christmas decorations in Germany.  In  Latvia, 1510, a fir tree was decorated with roses which was associated with the Virgin Mary.  This event is often hailed as the pioneer of modern Christmas decorations."

Now that I know the history, I am going to fix myself a cup of pumpkin spice latte and dive into those other boxes to complete the decorating.

Let the holidays begin!