Decorating for Christmas 2014

We had an added push to make our little bungalow festive this year - the annual Lamar Parade of Homes included us.  I continued to receive conflicting reports about how festive our home had to be in order to meet expectations.  I frantically went shopping at Target to stock up in lights and garlands but we went for pretty minimal. We had the good fortune of buying the perfect pre-decorated tree at the "Tree Auction" where donated trees are auctioned to raise money for our Domestic Safety Organization - same as the Parade of Homes charity.  We had many, many people traipsing through - a good handful were friends of the previous owner who is in a nursing home.  Her sisters were very sweet and said she would have liked the changes we made.  

Such a jolly Santa!

We had a fun trip to an antique shop in Oxford, Ohio over Thanksgiving where I picked up the three Santas and the hand towel.

The unique nativity scene was handmade by my grandmother Katy.  Family history has it that my brother Matt brought it to Show and Tell when he was in kindergarten and baby Jesus went missing!  Fortunately Katy made a new one.