Deck the Halls and everything else as a way to remember!

Hi Friends!

I don't have anything to show you that involves a card design tonight! Instead, I felt I could spread some much needed Christmas cheer by sharing our decked halls virtually as we won't be having any big parties or celebrations here, other than our kids at Christmas. 

A little history... I grew up with a mom that loved Christmas and loved to decorate for Christmas. We had live pine boughs and red velvet ribbons in all the rooms of our main floor and wound around a full staircase that opened up into a foyer at the front door. There were lots of candles, some figurines, fresh poinsettias and of course, the centerpiece was the tree. It was such a magical and festive time as our house was transformed. It was amazing and it laid the groundwork for what has become the Cade Christmas decorating traditions.

By God's grace, I married someone who likes Christmas as much as I do and is even willing to go crazy with the decorating. It has escalated over the 40 years of marriage and there have been years of purging some old to make way for the new. Several of my most cherished decorations are from the local Gibson's store that was here in Bozeman 33 years ago! I saved and scrimped when money was soooo tight and waited for every sale that all the stores had. I shopped all the after Christmas sales to scoop up 50% off bargains. I collected Santas on vacations and ornaments as momentos for the kids. We made decorations through the years and I incorporated a lot of cross stitch, quilting and more. Our style has not evolved much as we continue to love the oldest decorations the most. 

In a normal year, I've hosted Bible study brunches, Worship team dinners and brunches, card classes, friend hors d'oeuvre nights and lots of family Christmases. It was fun to decorate and share it with others but it's also fun to decorate when it's just us, like this year.  I don't have an explanation but my husband and I pulled out all the stops again this year, this Covid-themed year, for no other reason than it makes us happy, reminds us of all the other years, brings back warm memories of my mom to me and reminds us that Christmas and the birth of Jesus shine above all the circumstances going on in our world.  Since I can't invite you over, I want to spread some cheer with a glimpse of our home....

So, from our house to yours, Merry Christmas and I hope 2021 is a great year for us all! I'll be back with some regular posts about cards but thanks for stopping by and seeing what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks!

FAQ's

**How many tubs of storage? about 50, all mostly stored on shelves in the garage and a few other hidey holes

**How long does it take to set it up? a good weekend, more or less depending on if the kids are around to help us

**Where do you start? You start by taking down all your regular stuff - most everything! You need a blank canvas to decorate for Christmas!

**Do you put everything in the same place every year? Not really - mix it up a lot and if others are helping, I try to allow them their own opinions about where things should go ;)

**When do you put up and take down? Usually weekend of Thanksgiving it goes up and weekend around New Year's it goes down. Covid broke that protocol and we started in early November. Who knows when we will take it down - just may pretend it's Christmas all winter if things get really bad....

**Ever been tempted to skip a year? Yes but always glad I didn't. We have only put up about half the stuff a couple of years that we were going to be traveling but that was a rare exception.

**Favorite quirky decoration? My son has a Vikings (football team) nutcracker that he loves to hide for me to try to find but his favorite place to put it was amidst the nativity. We know there were no Vikings football players in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth but it still makes us laugh to see it there amongst the wisemen! Great memories....

**What's your husband's role? Easy, he does everything higher than about 5' from the ground because I can't reach any of it. 

**What are your most cherished decorations? I have a Hummel nativity that my mom bought my grandparents when she was a college student, purchased when she was traveling in Europe. It's in our hutch, a place of honor. My second favorite thing are the traditional bulbs on the Christmas tree. These are exactly like what we had on my childhood Christmas tree and I refuse to jump on the LED train for Christmas tree lights - not going to happen. 

**Did this decorating enthusiasm get passed on to your kids? You betcha! All of them decorate extensively and were decorated before we were this year! It's not a contest or a race, we just all love Christmas a lot!

  Holly Jolly, Merry and Bright!

Sarah

Christmas 2020