It's the most wonderful time of the year.
With the Christmas season fast upon us, it is time to start decorating our homes in the festive spirit. Many families use the same decorations year after year. Others go all out and try to change their design style with every passing season. As the holidays tend to be a time when people do a lot of entertaining in their homes, why not consider adding something extra to your holiday dιcor?
In years past, we have approached our holiday decorations with a certain theme in mind. One year, we decorated our home to look like Santa's workshop. Another time, we dressed our living room like a life-sized nativity scene. Last year was my favorite, by far! We transformed our home into a beach complete with sand and palm trees, and had Christmas in Hawaii. The opportunities are endless. If you are planning to have guests over during this holiday season, consider trying something new.
This year we are decorating our home in a winter wonderland theme. The idea is to transform our living room into
.you guessed it
.a winter wonderland. We are planning to use a lot of blues, whites, and silver. This will be great fun for the kids and me, as we get to spend an afternoon making paper snowflakes. You remember those don't you? You know the ones we all used to make in elementary school, where you fold up a round piece of paper and take little snippets out of it with scissors to make unique snowflake patterns. So much fun! We will also use lots of those silver icicles, and snowmen of various shapes and sizes.
Decorating your home really helps get your family and friends into the Christmas spirit. We usually invite our extended families over to help. This gives all the children an opportunity to share in what has become a wonderful family tradition. It also gives the adults a chance to enjoy some good company and maybe even some spiced-up egg nog! Later in the day we will likely all gather around the television and watch our favorite Christmas movie. We like to watch "A Christmas Story" every year as a family. This year, I want a Red Rider BB gun. On second thought, I'll probably shoot my eye out!
Catherine Spelling absolutely loves spending Christmas with family and friends. When she is not counting down the days until Christmas, she writes for christmaslightsanddecorations.com an online resources for all things relating to Christmas and decorations, with information about indoor Christmas lights, Christmas stockings, decorations and more.
The History of the Christmas Card
The Christmas card, as we know it, originated in England in the year 1843. An artist named John Calcott Horsley was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole, a wealthy and successful London businessman, to create a card that could be sent out to his friends and clients to wish them a merry Christmas.
Sir Henry Cole was very well known at the time, for a number of reasons. He had a helping hand in helping to modernize the British postal system. He played a prominent role in the creation of the Royal Albert Hall, and acted as the construction manager on this massive project. He also arranged for the Great Exhibition of 1851, and he oversaw the inauguration of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
One of Sir Henry Cole's greatest aspirations in life was to beautify the world around him. He owned and operated a wonderful art shop on Bond Street, which specialized in decorative objects for the home. His shop was hugely popular with the British upper class, and he earned a tidy sum from his business.
The Christmas card he commissioned was fashioned in the form of a triptych, which is a three-paneled design that allows for the two outer panels to be folded in towards the middle one. Each of the two side panels depicted a good deed. The first showed an image of people clothing the poor, and the other side panel showed an image of people feeding the hungry. The center piece had an image of a well-to-do family making a toast and surrounded by an enormous feast.
The inscription on the inside of the card read "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you." Of the one thousand cards printed for Sir Henry Cole, only twelve exist today in private collections. The printed card became highly fashionable in England during the years that followed. They also became very popular in Germany. It took quite a long time for the idea to catch on in America, then popularized by a German expatriate named Louis Prang in 1875. Today, more than 2 billion Christmas cards are exchanged each year. Merry Christmas, all!
Catherine Spelling absolutely loves spending Christmas with family and friends. When she is not counting down the days until Christmas, she writes for christmaslightsanddecorations.com an online resource for all things relating to Christmas and decorations, with information about decorations for Christmas, pre lit Christmas trees, Christmas wreaths and more.
A Christmas History Lesson
The Twelve Days of Christmas is one of the most famous Christmas carols ever written. It has been sung for a great many years, and is known the world over. To most it is a delightful hymn, but it was originally created with a very serious intent. In England between the years of 1558 and 1829, it was illegal to practice Catholicism in public or private. It was essentially a crime to be Catholic in England during those years.
The Twelve Days of Christmas was written to help preserve the traditions of the Catholic faith during the years that Catholicism was banned in England. The song is steeped in symbolism, and the fact that it is so well known throughout the world is a testament to the faith of the followers of the Catholic doctrine. The symbols contained in the song are as follows:
1st verse "True Love" refers to God.
2nd verse "2 Turtle Doves" refers to the Old and New Testaments.
3rd verse "3 French Hens" refers to Faith, Hope, and Charity.
4th verse "4 Calling Birds" refers to the Four Gospels or the Four Evangelists.
5th verse "5 Golden Rings" refers to the first five Books of the Old Testament.
6th verse "6 Geese-a-laying" refers to the six days of creation.
7th verse "7 Swans-a-swimming" refers to the seven sacraments.
8th verse "8 Maids-a-milking" refers to the eight beatitudes.
9th verse "9 Ladies dancing" refers to the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.
10th verse "10 Lords-a-leaping" refers to the Ten Commandments.
11th verse "11 Pipers piping" refers to the eleven faithful apostles.
12th verse "12 Drummers drumming" refers to the twelve points of the Apostle's creed.
I love this song. It is, by far, my favorite Christmas carol. I had no idea about the symbols contained in the song, until I googled the song lyrics one afternoon. I find it very interesting that a song we all know so well could contain so many hidden meanings. I would never have guessed that it was anything more than lovely Christmas carol. It's always nice to learn something new, especially about the wonderful celebration of Christmas. I hope you learned something, too. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Catherine Spelling absolutely loves spending Christmas with family and friends. When she is not counting down the days until Christmas, she writes for christmaslightsanddecorations.com - an online resources for all things relating to Christmas and decorations, with information about Garland, Ornaments, Holiday Decorations and more.
