Friday Five: Decorations

1) Do you display a nativity scene, and if so, where?  We don’t have a nativity scene, although I’ve thought of getting a kid-friendly one.  We don’t have much surface space on which to display one, so it would have to go on the floor somewhere, which is probably asking for trouble.
2) Do you put a skirt under the Christmas tree? If so, what does it look like? OH, we just got a new skirt on sale from Pier 1, and it’s beeeeutifiul. It’s a patchwork of multicolored silk and velvet squares.  Last year I made the mistake of getting one of those little dollar skirts, the ones that feel like dryer lint but are white and sparkly. Well, the cats took care of that real quick, and soon it looked like real dryer lint.
3) Do you hang lights on the house or put them in your windows? We have some lights around the faux French doors (the apts we live in have one door next to a floor-length window that can’t open. Can you say “cheap”?).
4) White lights or colored lights on the tree? Big bulbs or the small, pretty ones? We have white lights on the tree, the little non-blinking ones.  We have white because the last two years we decorated the tree mostly with silver and purple. We may switch to something else next year.
5) Do you have a tree topper? What sort? Who puts it on top of the tree? Our tree topper this year is a simple wooden star that Five-year-old made with popsicle sticks. She added silver paint and some glitter.  She was very pleased that we put it on top. Usually whatever we buy as a tree topper won’t stay put on our artificial tree. Dear Husband put it on top because he’s tall.

Last year my MIL got the girls a felt Countdown to Christmas tree. There are little fabric decorations to add each day of December until Christmas.  It plays Jingle Bells when you press it tree-topper star, which I thankfully only learned about this Christmas.

We also celebrate Channukah, and have a lovely traditional menorah.  Last year Five-year-old and I tried a craft project making one with baby-food jars, glass paint, and florists beads.  If anyone ever suggests this craft to you, run.  I’m still finding those florists beads.