Decorating for Christmas in Our New Home

I’ve started decorating for Christmas, which is the only season for which I do much decorating. By some people’s standards, I do next to no decorating, even for Christmas.

This year, for the first time in my life, I have the advantage of having all my Christmas decorations in the same closet. In the past, they’ve been split between the upstairs guest room and a basement storage closet. But in our new home, I managed to get all our Christmas items in the lower level guest room. All I had to do was pull out the boxes and start decorating.

And then I realized . . . I don’t know where to put anything.

One wreath went on the front door—that was easy, and gave me a quick sense of accomplishment. But then I stalled. What about other wreathes? Where should the stockings go? And the creche?

Crèche, after I repaired Mary’s hands

I moved non-holiday knickknacks off a table and started setting up the crèche. Then I discovered Mary’s hands had broken off.

Quick—where is the super-glue? I found it, and conducted emergency repairs. In conducting this reconstruction, I realized one of Mary’s hands had broken before. I have no recollection of that event. Now, I’m just hoping that the super-glue will keep her hands in place for a month.

I remembered other emergency repairs to the clay crèche in the past—Joseph’s beard, for one. I may need to look for another crèche. It isn’t the highest quality, and I could get something nicer and more durable. Still, I’ve loved this one because my parents bought it for me in Mexico when my children were young. But neither of my children seem to have any emotional attachment to having a crèche up at Christmas, so should I bother replacing it? Or should I keep this one until I can no longer repair the critical characters in the display?

Stockings hung in the new house

In the old house, we had hooks screwed into the mantle where the kids’ stockings hung every December. I usually had to remove the stockings to transport to grandparents’ homes where Santa found us. Nevertheless, we had a place for the stockings in our home. This year, I used a twistie-tie to affix my daughter’s stocking to a cupboard drawer. That will have to do. My son and his wife won’t be with us, so I don’t have to hang those stockings.

Advent wreath, without the daily ornaments on it

Without any small children celebrating with us this year, there is no point in bringing out the 24 Advent wreath items to put on the wreath my mother made me. But I did hang up the wreath itself on a doorknob.

And the piano can still hold the soldier and angel decorations, as it has for the past thirty years.

The silver bells are near the old clock, though not on it, as my parents displayed them for so many years.

The big issue my husband and I still have to resolve is where to put the Christmas tree. We have always had a live tree, so we don’t put it up until shortly before Christmas. We always put it in the unused formal living room in our old house.

But our new house doesn’t have as many rooms and it doesn’t have a formal living room. Moreover, the rooms in this house are not as big as the comparable rooms in the old house. There isn’t a good place on the main level to put up the tree without crowding hallways.

But once we find a place for the tree, I know where all the decorations are. They’re still in the lower level guest room.

Silver bells, not far from the clock

What challenges do you have in decorating for the holidays?