My Winter Wonderland

Ever wonder what the North Pole looks like? Well, wonder no more! I have a mini replica in my home that takes 2-3 days to set up each year. Why do I put myself through this torture? 'Cause it's fun!!

Our wall unit in the family room is typically filled with the usual: family photos, a few candles, some chachkis. The day after Thanksgiving, these are all put away to make room for my many music boxes and collectibles.

For 10 years I sold Christmas decorations through party plans. The first seven years I sold Christmas Around the World (also known as House of Lloyd), one year I sold North Star, and the last two years were with Kingdom Treasures. None of these companies exist anymore, but during these years I was able to amass a formidable amount of items, both for myself and to give away as gifts. I try to place them in sets. This is the right side of my wall unit. The top shelf has my Santa teapots. Bottom shelf is all about penguins. The middle shelf is more of a hodge podge, the focal point being the mouse musical in the center.

On the left hand side are my water balls on the bottom shelf. There are more penguins on the top shelf (penguins are my favorites!) and the center has snowmen, Santas and an animal music box that my daughter loved as a child. There's a merry-go-round in the middle that is darling. It was one of the last items I got, before Kingdom Treasures folded in 2005.

In the center of the wall unit are 3 plush collectibles that I got from my dear friend DeeAnne who got me started selling party plan. I display these with love.

A view of my kitchen counter. This is only part of all I do in the kitchen. The rabbits on the upper right hand corner are the House of Lloyd family, Floyd, Flossie, Grandpa Lloyd, Grandma Flo, and the kids, Hip & Hop. I bought the chairs at Big Lots and display them together.





This is a view of the first of three villages. All the houses are gingerbread. It's not the clearest pic, since it's in front of the window and the sun is coming in strong in the morning. This is our dining room. Notice the palm trees in the back yard. Kind of throws off the whole "North Pole" theme ;-).











This is my dining room table centerpiece. It actually consists of several pieces that I put together: in the center is a horn covered in jeweled fruits and ribbons which is flanked by two reindeer candleholders. These are surrounded by poinsetta wreaths. A gold colored runner over a dark green tablecloth complete the table. It looks very elegant, even though the furniture itself is more casual.

My other Christmas villages are in the living room, by the tree. These are regular miniatures, somewhat Victorian houses. I don't have any of the Department 56 collectibles; they're gorgeous but just too expensive for me. I have my House of Lloyd houses, Kingdom Treasures houses, and a few I picked up at Walmart for a very good price. They work fine with the other houses which is all I care about.
















This is the Cool Family. Aren't they cool?!? There's one for each member of our family: Dad, Mom, big brother, sister, and youngest brother. They're wearing their ski gear, ready to hit the slopes (difficult to do in South Florida). They stand in front of the two villages which are in front of the living room window. Can you see Santa peeking in the corner?

This is the view from the front door. The snowman family under the coffee table is the Freezeman Family from House of Lloyd. There are a few collectibles on the coffee table from my husband's company Christmas parties as well as candlesticks that match the horn in the dining room. The wreath on our front door is also the jeweled fruit theme. You can see the tree in the background (there's a pic of the tree in my previous post, The Simple Woman's Daybook).

Behind the loveseat is a sort of curio cabinet that, just like the wall unit in the family room normally displays photos and collectibles, but at Christmas time displays some of my favorite pieces, like my many Nativity scenes. I have 5 Nativities, some very large, others very small, but all important in reminding us what Christmas is really about.

Here's a better view of the right side of the cabinet. I have a lovely Nativity at the top, some Santa collectibles in the next two shelves, and stuffed penguins at the bottom. I would always put the plush animals at the bottom so my son would play with those and not the ceramic items. He's almost 9 years old now, so I'm not concerned with him breaking anything, but out of habit I still put the stuffed toys at the bottom.

By this time you must be thinking, "No, really, why would anyone go through all that trouble? Packing, unpacking, and repacking again in January is insane!" Yeah, well, maybe I am a bit crazy. Actually, we didn't have Christmas when I was growing up. No, I wasn't born before Christmas was invented (come on people!!). I was raised in a Jehovah's Witness household, and we didn't celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, or any of the traditional Christian holidays. We weren't even allowed to watch holiday cartoons. While all the other kids were helping decorate a tree, and having big dinners, and getting presents, we were sitting at home with tv dinners and our same old toys. What was worse, even though we said we understood why we didn't celebrate Christmas, we really didn't. It made no sense not to celebrate the birth of our Savior. When I left that church, I wanted desperately to make up for lost time. Collecting Christmas decorations became obsessive. No matter how much I had, I wanted more. When I became a Christian, I realized Christmas isn't about the presents or the decorations. It's about giving. Jesus gave up His place in heaven to be born into a world that rejected Him. He gave His life to redeem us of our sins. He gives and gives and gives. We need to do the same. Yes, I still decorate like a mad woman, and enjoy doing it. I love having people over to share our collectibles with them. But mostly, I love remembering Jesus' birth and what it means to us. It reminds me that I need to share this with others. Do you know Jesus?