a Few of my Favorite Things...

This time of year is my absolute favorite!  I love the evenings spent with my home filled with twinkling lights and scented candles.  This year I was playing around with my camera and decided to share some of my favorite things in my decoration collection.

 This nativity is new to me this year.

It is very special to me too. 

This nativity is my Grandma Gales.  She gave it to me this past summer and I love it.

I have so many fond memories of gazing at this scene as a child while visiting my Grandma's house.  

My favorite part about it has always been that baby Jesus can be removed from the manager.  With Grandma's permission, I would hold baby Jesus for hours.  So excited to display it this year for the first time in my home.

 I love my Christmas tree decorations.  

While the tree is filled with little decorations the kids have made, I also have some that are even more special.  I have searched far and wide and try to buy ornament sets that are not breakable!

Then there are also the special ornaments we have collected over the years from our travels.  Here are a few of my favorites...

 This ornament I received as a gift from some dear sister's from our California ward and church.  It has my favorite print of Christ inside.

This always gets placed at the heart of our Christmas tree.

 This is a new favorite that I picked up in Prague last year.

The Holy family made from corn husks.

 We found this in Garmisch, Germany.

It depicts a simple Bavarian village winter scene.

Bavaria will always be what I picture now as the ideal Winter and Christmas scene.

 We found this one in Heidleberg Germany.  I love how the whole nativity scene is inside the star.

Next up in the line up is my Christmas village.

Every year, since the first year we were married, my Grandma gave Matt and I a piece for a Christmas Village.  She started with a church for the first year and then it just grew.  We call it Grandma Gale's Christmas village, and when she passes or stops giving me pieces, the village will be complete.

 This is my newest addition to my village.  I opened it early ;)

Recognize it from any popular Christmas movie....?

I think it shows my Grandma's humor...she is still so full of wit at the ripe young age of 97!

 Yet another Nativity that I love.

This is all carved out of a trunk of an Olive Tree.  It is absolutely beautiful and one of my Christmas Treasures.  We found this treasure at a Christmas market in Rothenburg o.d.t., Germany.

This is my Christmas star.

I fell in love with it the first time I saw it in a little Nutcracker factory in Muggendorf, Germany.

I waited a whole year to buy it, Since I still loved it, I decided I would always love it and it would be money well spent.

I love to see it shining out my window as I drive up to my house at night.

I especially love Christmas lights! 

The glow of Christmas lights is compared to no other.  I feel like it resembles the spirit, softly glowing within our hearts, lighting our way back to Christ.

At least that is what I always think of when I see them.

Merry Christmas everyone!