Friday, December 7, 2007

Christmas decorations and last day to sign up...

Well, we have arrived at the last day to sign up with the BBC. I will be closing it tonight and assigning partners this weekend and hope to have all the information e-mails sent out over the next few days.

Carol asked about what we/I did with the Christmas cards that we receive every year. I keep many of them. Especially the handmade ones or the picture/photo ones. I have lots of those in my big secretary. I do that with many cards during the year not just from Christmas. I have some cards that were sent to me by friends from years and years ago...even back to when I was in college and before. I am a total pack rat like that. I have letters and cards from my grandparents that they sent me for birthdays and different events from 30+ years ago, and now that they are no longer here they are nice to have around. I treat all handmade things like that. My paternal grandmother was a great crafter and I have many cards/letters and things that she made over the years. She has been gone almost 10 years now and I wouldn't trade these bits of paper for anything in the world. The other more mundane or store bought cards I will keep until the next year when I do the cards again and then I will either make tags for presents or some other crafty thing depending on what the actual cards lends itself to. Whatever is left over I will try and recycle. In the garage in our building there has in years past been a bin for recycling Christmas cards, paper and boxes. That was a lot of answer for such an easy question. I really enjoy doing the cards and will probably continue doing them.

Since this week I have turned to the non-photo kind of stitching I thought I would take some pics of our Christmas decorations. We live in an apartment building so have no yard to decorate. We do have the hall, and since we are at the end we can almost do anything we want to. In years past we have piled tons of real pine garland and poinsettias all over the place, but then have heard from the building manager that it really is not allowed because of all the mess and stuff dropping off. I personally think that she just doesn't want to vacuum, but that is a whole other story and since this is Christmas we won't go there!! We vacuum everyday and pick up all the bits that fall of anyway so it is not her problem....not going to go there! This past spring our buildings where sold so I am not sure how they would take to the live decorations so we went all artificial. Here are some snaps....


We have these windows that line the opposite wall from our doorway and it is here that we put the garland and stuff.
Here is a snap of the hanging badge between the windows.



And here is the wreath that my Mom sent us a few years ago.

Rico did all this decorating so he is to get the credit. He also did the tree, also artificial, but I forgot to get a picture. We go back and forth between a real tree and a fake one... this year it was the fake one. I'll get a snap on Monday. We are using the tree skirt the my Grandmother made 40+ years ago and have the NOEL banner she made 50+ years ago hanging up in the stairway. I really like using family things every year.

Have a great weekend, thanks for stopping by!!!!!

Take care,
edgar

6 comments:

  1. Lovely Christmas decor, can't wait to see the heirlooms your Grandmother made :)

    My Grandma passed away when my second child was 6 months old, and my youngest never met her. But she used to write a little letter and tuck a dollar into the envelope for my oldest faithfully every month until she just wasn't able. I've saved every single one, they are precious to me and a treasure for my daughter :) Some things don't need a high price tag to denote their value...

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  2. Cant wait to get the name of my exchange partner!
    Lovely christmas decorations. I might start putting some up this weekend. We also switch between a real tree and a fake one.
    I keep loads of stuff too...i could never throw away letters especially.

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  3. Rico sure can decorate well! I'm afraid I'm not terribly good with that, and leave much of it up to Niek. :)

    We hope to do our Christmas decorating during the coming week.

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  4. This is our first year with a artifical tree(I can't stand to use the word fake). I've got it up and shaped now I have to decorate!
    Whew, what a job.
    Donna

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  5. What lovely Christmas decorations! I love this time of year :)

    I know what you mean about things handed down in the family - my tree is covered in things made by me, my mum, and my grandmothers - it's a nice way to stay connected with them all as my grandmothers have passed (and are sorely missed) and my parents live back in Canada. I have stacks of cards and notes and letters from them all as well - couldn't bear to part with them!

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  6. Rico did a great job - your place looks quite festive!

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 Happy Hallowe'en!!! edgar