Christmas Dinner Preparations have begun! 

(I am a little late posting!)

Yes, it is three days before Christmas, I am THAT woman! The one whom people say, "she has too much time on her hands!" So this is what I did with my time today. Napkin folding.

And these are my beautiful Christmas dishes that I have been collecting for years! "Winter Greetings Everyday" by Lennox. Those are the green glasses I inherited from my grandmother. I love mixing a little old with a little new!

We recently purchased and renovated this ranch style home that was built in 1976. We first fell in love with this sixteen foot fireplace! My first thought was, "that mantel will hold a lot of grandbaby stockings at Christmas time! As you can see, we still have a lot of available space, but we are praying it fills up eventually! (No pressure kids!)

As much as I love neutral colored modern farmhouse stockings (that would look SO good on my mantel) I cannot depart from the style of these family stockings that have been in my family for generations.

It started when my great grandmother made sequined stockings for her grandchildren. My grandmother continued the tradition and made stockings for my sisters and I. My aunt then continued the tradition making them for my children and my nieces and nephews. When I got married, I made one for my husband and I (as mine that was made by my grandmother is still hung at my Mom's house). Now that I have a grandbaby, I decided it was time to get busy making her stocking. But that would also mean that I needed matching stockings for my son-in-law and daughter-in-law! Everything must match! LOL!

I started in December this year and worked feverishly, while watching Christmas Movies & Football, determined to finish by Christmas! I finished the day before Christmas Eve! Yay!

This is the stocking I made for my son-in-law.

This one is for my daughter-in-law:

 And this one is for my granddaughter!

I have often wondered who decided which way the toe would point when the stockings are hung! Having no pattern, I made my husband's and mine pointing to the left.

However, when my aunt made these for my children, she made them with the toes pointing to the right. I thought she did it incorrectly-she is left-handed after all! But the two at the far left are store bought stockings to which I added the sequined appliques. She was right. I was wrong. So our 5 original family stockings have always looked silly hanging on the mantel pointing different directions.

Now that I have this amazingly long mantel, I have decided that my kids will go on one side of the fireplace pointing the right. My husband's and mine will hang on the right, and I will make all future stockings for my grandchildren pointing to the left so they can hang next to ours and we will have perfect balance. Balance is important to me!

Traditions

I love hearing about Christmas traditions from other families. It is the one thing that people who had wonderful memories enjoy talking about! One of the things our family wants to return to is reading the Christmas story from Luke Chapter 2 and taking communion before sitting down to dinner.

Crackers and red grape juice. Yes, those are shot glasses and antique creamers that communion is being serving in! What can I say? You improvise with what you have! 

(Those shot glasses are antiques from my grandpa, and they always had toothpicks in them! I thought they were toothpick holders for years!)

My mother-in-law always had a huge table of snack foods prepared so we could watch football and "graze" until Christmas Dinner was ready! Naturally, I did the same thing...of course, she was feeding 20 and I am only feeding 6. Needless to say, there will be a lot of leftovers!

Cajun Cheese Log

This next dish is a cajun cheese log. The ingredients include 3 oz. pks. cream cheese, 2 jars dried corned beef, three bunches of green onions, 1 tsp. garlic, 1 tsp of jalapeno powder all mixed together in large bowl. Divide into three logs. Roll each log in equal parts of cayenne pepper powder and paprika. Hot! Hot!! HOT!!! It is best served with Ritz Crackers, as the buttery cracker calms the taste buds!

My favorite Christmas candy is Divinity, so I always make it!

The rest of my family likes fudge, but I don't care for it, nor do I like to make it. I tried my mother-in-law's recipe made with Velveeta Cheese this year, but no one ate it.

Sugar Cookies. These are my specialty. I make them for every holiday-not just Christmas! I am a professional baker and this recipe is my most popular item. I usually spend hours decorating them with glazed frosting and  ornate designs, but running short on time, I just sprinkled colored sugar on them.

 Most people who visit us come in the back door of our house, so here are my back door decorations. I purchased the roller skates at an antique store for cheap! We don't have ice skating in Texas, so I thought it would be more appropriate to use roller skates! I knew immediately when I saw them that they would be used for Christmas decoration! Just stick a sprig of greenery in it and call it done!

Our very simple Christmas Tree. 

I used to go all out and decorate five trees very elaborately. At this stage of my life, simple is preferred.

Our guest room:

Our Guest Cottage Tree:

It took me a long time to figure out how I feel about this. It is a nice way to insert Jesus into a pagan Christmas tradition (I write sarcastically).  I have read the history of Santa Clause and that he was a Christian who gave out of the generosity of his heart. I resolved that this is an appropriate depiction. I hand painted it myself in the early 80's. It still has a place in our decor.

And this is our tree topper!

It may be hard to see in this picture, but it consists of two crowns. One is a crown of thorns that I made years ago from thorny mesquite tree branches found on our farm. I then spray painted it gold. This year I purchased a gold crown symbolizing the King of Kings and hung them together at the top of our tree. The first time He came, He came to be crucified, to be the sacrifice for our sins. Next time He comes, He will come as our reigning King!

I have enjoyed sharing our family traditions with you! Whatever your Christmas memories may be, whether good or bad, I encourage you to begin your own traditions and determine in your heart to make good memories. Christmas is a season of treasures. Treasure your friends, your family, and most of all, treasure the greatest gift of all, Jesus, our wonderful Savior, Counselor, Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He is worthy to be praised!

Merry Christmas!