Deck the Halls

[ydebi]

Prissy...I love snowmen too!!!!!! I'll take a picture of some of mine soon....very soon....

Kris....the kids did a great job on the tree!!!! and I love your santa...I bet Beau does too!!! Or is he afraid of santa....aisalynn is...when she sees him she says...NOOOOO....LOL...too funny.....

the last time I went to north michigan to see the family my sister , brother and I went to Traverse city...in the middle of one of the side streets downtown there was this big christmas tree....the street was down to two lanes, one each way and you actually had to drive around it!!! anyways this is a nighttime picture of it...see the two people at the bottom that is Ric, my brother and Dorothy, my sister...what a great looking tree..I surely would not want to decorate that one!!!!!

[Prissy]

Debi,

What a beautiful tree!  That is funny......Aisalynn saying NO when she sees Santa. 

Here are a few closeups of some of the "fiddling characters" on my Christmas tree:

(Clickable)
   

 

                    


 


Hugs,
Prissy

  

[clayMaine-iac]

Hi Prissy, sorry I am late. I see you did call me, tho.

Debi and Kris, I love your pictures and now I am ashamed to post mine.    Debi, Nolan went to see Santa and couldn't take his eyes off him whiile waiting in line. He was even leaning over the fence to get closer.  But, when they tried to sit him on Santa's lap, he said "no"!! My daughter sent me the picture and the whole family is in it.  It is the only way Nolan would stay with Santa. 

Take notice of the big white lumpy present:


Now, here is a close-up:


My cat has stayed under the tree in that spot almost constantly since I put the tree up.  She won't let me put presents there. 

I tried to take a picture of my Tin Soldier and Santa's Boot with the poinsetta in it.  The little village in the middle has tons of flashing fiber optic lights. I got too much reflection from the window, tho:


Here is the same window after dark:


Some of my manger scene.  Hubby and I both feel we should have some of the display show the real reason for the season:


Another of my bow window scenes:


I decided to go with just red plus red and white lights on my tree this year:



I took this picture after dark with no lights on in the room.  My flash is way too bright! I had to cover it to take the picture above.

[Prissy]

Deanna,
Great pictures.  I love the one with kitty under the tree.  Hey, a nice soft velvety spot with a tree overhead.  What more could a kitty want? Nolan and Aisalynn need to make a "date" together to see Santa. 

Kris,
I love your tree and beautiful Santa on the previous page.  It's fun to get to "peek" into everyone's house and see the decorations, inside and out.

Hugs,
Prissy

[clayMaine-iac]

This is the walkway between the house and the garage:



The trees came with the lights all attached. I told hubby that I wanted to leave the trees there all winter so the walkway would always be lit when needed. What do you think?  Do they look too Christmasy or can we use them as "winter decorations?"

[Prissy]

Deanna,

I say leave them up.   I have seen those trees advertised, and i am tempted to get them to line maybe the sidewalk or one side of the driveway.  You could at least leave them up all winter.

Our Christmas wreath we moved to the gate when we had siding put on the  front porch, and it stays there year round now.  I just change the artificial flowers or decorations I put on it for each holiday or season.

(Click on picture to make large.)




FRONT PORCH

[clayMaine-iac]

Prissy, I just noticed the green grass by your front porch.  Why is mine all covered with fluffy white stuff??? 

Do you like my grass?:

[Prissy]

Deanna,

That green you see by my front porch is Asian Jasmine.    Our grass is just now starting to go brown.  I don't get a lot of that "fluffy white stuff."   


Here is my Dining room with some of my "Snowman" decorations:

(Clickables)






(Who can spot Clay pictures and a Tin man???)

Deanna,
These snowmen that I am decorating with are probably the only snowmen I will see.   And I plan to leave out the "snow" decorations through January.

Hugs,
Prissy

[fhmmany2]

 

O.K., Prissy - just for you - I should be up cleaning something - not posting pictures!    Click to make pictures bigger.

I have always loved Santa - I guess, as a child, with a Dad who was an alcoholic, Santa always seemed to be another word for "love" to me - I am horrified, after reading Lady C's "Christmas This and That" thread to learn that some of you do not believe in Santa! 

Santa is everywhere in our house this time of year - even on the bed - this is my favorite Santa pillow - it says "I BELIEVE IN SANTA CLAUS!"




This is looking up our driveway - Lewis made the candy canes, and over to the right, on the fence, is my part of the decorating each year. I put styrofoam cups into the chain-link fence (Lewis leaves what I'm going to say every year up to me), and he comes along behind me and puts a light into each cup. The years we have tried not to have a fence message, the neighbors have complained!  This year the fence says "Happy Holidays From The McBrydes":





This yard sign is for the benefit of my grown children, who would still sneak around, if given the chance!




Another yard sign:





Christmas Flag:





The deer are dressed up for Christmas:




We bought this blow-up this year - I think the grandchildren will love it!

Santa stuck in the chimney:






Rudolph is pulling hard:




Santa is un-stuck!:




Lights on the outside of the house: (Picture is sort of dark!)





End of Outside Pictures - I'm moving into the house, now!

[fhmmany2]

First of all, here is the Christmas Angel (Wild Baby!) who helped decorate the tree this year - (as you see, she was VERY serious about this!):







Our tree is filled with 40 years of ornaments - I have every ornament that my children ever made, plus Lewis and I choose an ornament for our tree every year. Since the grandchildren came along, there is also a yearly picture Christmas ornament of them.  (And i have to make a Clay ornament every year, too!!!  ) From a distance, our tree looks pretty normal:




But I took a close-up of how the ornaments (especially on the bottom of the tree!) were hung - in clusters - and some of them are backwards!  But the baby worked so hard - it took her hours - so Papaw and I voted to leave the tree just as she decorted it this year - she was so proud of all of her hard work!




This rag doll Angel ws made by a friend, and has been on the top of our tree for many years. She is holding a string of wooden hearts that read "Count Your Blessings":



This is the table in our kitchen - I collect Santas, and all of the Santas on the table are holding Christmas trees, because my Christmas dishes also have Christmas trees on them:




The kitchen has a built-in china cabinet - I put a lot of my Santas here during Christmas - sorry for the glare on the glass! I know you can't tell, but some of the Santas are dressed in Black - over the years, I have bought several New Orleans Saints Santas for hubby Lewis!






This is one of my favorite Santa signs - given to me many years ago by my daughter!



That ends my Tour - I have enjoyed seeing everyone's decorations - and the snow, for those of you lucky enough to get it! (I so wish my grandchildren could see snow - none of them every have - and the oldest is 10 years old!) I did not know about this thread lst year - I hope lots of people wil post their decorations!

[Prissy]

Frankie,

 I just loved seeing your decorations, inside and out.  You can tell that a lot of love and memories go into your decorating.  Wild Baby is so cute decorating and you were right;  to leave it just as she hung things.  Your tree is beautiful.

Hugs,
Prissy

[ACcountryFan]

Hello Prissy!! I decided to post a few pics that ultimately go back in time


Christmas, 2006...there were no gifts under the tree at the time; there are several there now


Christmas, 1989


Christmas, 1987

[LadyC]

I love this thread!  It's like getting a little peek into each person's life and personality.  I've really enjoyed every minute I've spent here.  Thanks, everyone, for sharing!

 

[Prissy]

  Kris!

AC,
It's fun to get to see your trees through the years.

Hugs,
Prissy

[Mary]

I just lost my third long post and am just giving up.

I have enjoyed everyones pictures and stories.

This year with a broken wrist I have had to ask for a lot of help and am very grateful for what everyone has done.

Many things that I usually do are not being done. Windows are not washed, curtins and drapes are not cleaned and I don't care! We will have family, food and a good time. No cookies are baked and they won't be.

Norm put up all the outside lights and has driven me to countless doctors appointments and to the stores. My sister, Jane, took a day off from work so I could finish my shopping. She went everywhere I wanted to go and I was happy that she picked up many things that she needed along the way.

Norm has to go out and get his own present from me. He wants an overnight travel bag on rollers. This is not the first time he has bought his own present. One year he wanted a new barbicue grill and I sent Brian out with him. Norm shops price while I shop quality. Sigh.

Jane will come over Saturday to help with what ever needs to be done. I need to cook. She has never cooked anything that can't be put in a microwave! I'll do the cooking but I need the brawn to do the slicing and dicing and heavy lifting.

[Prissy]

Some more Christmas photos from places I have been recently:

(Click on photos to make large.)

Pictures from the BOTANIC GARDENS BUILDING IN FORT WORTH

Poinsettia tree


Large Christmas tree and sleigh




THISTLE HILL (This is the antebellum mansion where  the quartet plays weddings.)




SANFORD WEDDING CHAPEL
This is where we played at the outdoor wedding last week.  The quartet was on the left of the "stage" area.  (Can you see my car behind this pavilion on the left?)

[Mary]

Prissy, I love the poinsettia tree and wanted do make one for years. Sad to say it would just cost too much each year. I was able to save one poinsettia for a year but it was the ugliest thing the second year.

I have bought a few silk ones over the years and hope that sometime I will have enough for a tree like that.

[Mary]

I have been decorating for Christmas the past few days. Norm took down all of the lights last year when I had a broken wrist and just threw them in boxes. He thought he did a great job because he labled all the boxes. There was no way I was climbing a ladder or a step stool with one arm out of commission.

My old system wasn't good enough for him. At least half of the strands of lights are out this year. It took me over 2 1/2 hours to untangle the lights and cords on a pre-lit tree for the family room because he didn't take the top two sections apart but he did use the wires to bundle them together to fit it in the box for storage. What a mess! Five strands of lights were out. I got 4 working but that fifth one is still driving me nuts. It usually took me about 10 minutes to put that tree together. I couldn't even listen to Christmas music after two hours!

I had all the trees and icicle lights and window candles on timers so I wouldn't have to run around the house every night plugging everything in. I found the timer for Brian's room in the one of the family room boxes and am still missing some.

Now my house looks like a UPS storage facility with boxes in every room.

Note to self: Never break a bone at Christmas time!

[clayniac4ver]

i simply love the song deck the halls because its a fun family song

alyse

[fhmmany2]

Mary - Your post made me  Lewis is always so careful putting things away - he has a system! This year he found everything except the lights that go on the Christmas tree - he fumed around here for a couple of hours, and fianlly said that they were just gone - I must have thrown them away! We had bought lots of boxes of white lights after Christmas last year, and he asked me if I nminded using those for the tree (we usually have colored lights on the tree -  red and white lights outside). He used the white lights, and I think it is one of the prettiest trees we've ever had.. And we found the tree lights right after the tree was finished - in their usual box underneath 2 Santa pillows! 

I hope lots of members will post picture of their decorations this year - looking forward to seeing them!