Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’ angelic host proclaim
Christ is born in Bethlehem.-Charles Wesley 1753
Getting Ready for the Cozy Season
My school district gives us a week break for Thanksgiving, so I put it to good use, working hard to get everything ready for Christmas so I can enjoy the big holiday and not be stressed.
I typically start the first weekend of that break by pulling all the furniture out from the windows and walls, cleaning behind it, and putting the electric candles in their special spots in the windows. These candles make me feel so deliciously happy and cozy inside, like little bubbles of joy. I now keep them up all winter long. I learned that the Danes, Finns, and Swedes do this as well to help get through the dark days this time of year. Most of my candles are on remote controls and this makes it easy to turn them on and off, so they get used more! The first year I traipsed up and down 3 flights of stairs every night to have them on. It was worth it, but it made me so tired!
Then, on with the cooking for Thanksgiving and the baking of Christmas gingerbread cookies.
After Thanksgiving then I bring up all the Christmas cheer from the basement. (I do love having a basement- so handy. We don’t even take our tree apart, we just carry it down there and set it back upright!)
A huge influence this year was the Austrian professor we bought the house from (she called it a schloss) one of my favorite Youtube channels, Kirsten&Georg, and Victoria and Albert’s German Christmases. I love how Germany celebrates Christmas and wanted some of that magic in my home as well.
Now that we are all cozy and the hygge is everywhere, it’s TIME. Let the decorating begin!
New Things and Changes for 2025
Now let me tell you. I am a collector at heart, I love beautiful things, and I really have to keep this in check. Things sneak in in sneaky ways and lately- that’s been Christmas decorations. It’s definitely a challenge because I feel like I have a wonderful house that begs to be decorated everywhere for Christmas! I’m going to have to calm down a bit! (I don’t go overboard, but I already have so much given to me by my mother and so many things collected over my entire life.)
New things and changes this year: I purchased more clip-on glass mushroom ornaments and little clip-on LED candles- these are very popular in Germany and I thought they added the perfect touch of whimsy to our decorations. I didn’t have enough teacups and saucers or dessert plates for my Christmas dish set so I bought 4 more of each. My sweet husband drilled holes in my Christmas dishes as well as my Wedgwood dishes to make plate stands. I also want to use my few John R Wright Pocket Pooh characters to help add more cuteness to Christmas. (I’d been collecting deeply discounted ones on E-Bay this summer.)
Dining Room
My favorite room to dress right now is the dining room. I did this weird thing where I set the table sideways when it has all three leaves in it so everyone has room to walk around and scoot their chairs around. Let me tell you- the house liked it! It’s kind of nuts, but it does! And since we have our big group of motorcycle friends over often, and our family is getting bigger, I have just left it like that!
Ya’ll know I have a dish-ease, so of course, I have Christmas dishes. And out they come to sparkle and gleam with the crystal and silver and candle-light. Placed carefully on a vibrant poinsettia tablecloth, they will bring cheer to our special meals for the next six weeks. In the middle of the table is our handsome tinsel tree that I decorated with old Christmas ornaments from the Austrian professor we bought the house from. (They were left in the basement.)
Library
Next is the library and I put LED candles and glass mushrooms in the greenery on the mantle. I have been watching the lovely Youtube channel Kirsten&Jeorg and loving all their German Christmas videos for inspiration!
Front Hall & Living Room
After the library out came the bags of Annalee characters! These guys have been favorites since I was a little child and played with some elves my mom had. I got a Mrs. Clause for my Santa last year and it was so good to see her dancing with him again.
As I am doing the house, Josh is getting out the tree. he puts the lights on it. It’s enough for one day. Tomorrow I will continue!
The next day I put the ornaments on the tree and the ribbons, star, angel, santas, etc. Then Josh helps me tie the garland to the stair rails. The garland is also decorated.
Our Bedroom
Our room has a fireplace (it doesn’t work anymore) and a mantle. You see what I mean about this house begging to be decorated for Christmas? So a woodland garland joins my beautiful collection of aqua Mccoy, Frankoma, Van Briggle, and Bauer pottery. I put my little Steiff mice in-between the mushrooms and they look adorable!
The Studio
Then the studio woodland/Starbucks/Pooh tree is set up to bring cheer to the shared work space of my husband and I.
The Christmas Kitchen
I typically don’t do a whole lot in here because it’s such a busy place, but I do change out the cookie cutters and add a few touches!
A few other small touches (like alternating holiday orange air fresheners with fir tree ones in the outlets downstairs- the combination is divine) and we are done!
I carry the empty containers back down to the basement, fix myself a cup of tea and relax, soaking up all the twinkly lights, sparkly things, beauty and joy of the season!
Christmas Tours by Year
If you are in a Christmas mood check the old tours out here!
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020- guess I didn’t do one that year! (We did have Christmas though!)
2019
May God bless you, and shine his face upon you all the days of your life.
Merry Christmas!
-Jaime
Life on Kansas Street 