Sights of Christmas at the Suemnicht Home

Hanging on our coat closet door...because there is no where else to hang them :) are the stockings. This is the first year that I plan to actually fill the stockings. I don't know why I haven't, but now just seems right. I made these. I made the top two one of the first years we were married. I just made the bottom two in the last couple weeks. The star is for Lucy, our light. The tree is for Judah,our praise. The candy canes are for Mayme, our treasure. The ornaments are for Selah, our rest. I'm not going to explain them anymore than that. It makes sense to me. I don't know if it will make sense to others, but I don't want to ruin it by trying to stretch and elaborate. :-) Anyway, they are fun. Oh, yes, and that is Lucy's Nutcracker. She has always wanted one and we found this one on sale at the fabric store...I couldn't resist letting her get it. 

We have the simple Willow Tree Nativity set. I love nativities. I wish I had more places to set them up...maybe as the kids get older, I'll safely be able to start a little collection. :)
Oh, and please ignore the upside down doll in the background. Grandpa fixed Lucy's broken doll and set her there to dry...and I was in such a hurry to take some pictures while the kids were busy playing
 that I neglected to move it first. :-)

This is a new addition to our Christmas decorations this year. It is called a Jesse tree. We are very behind on it, but that is ok. I still plan to catch up and finish it. I've wanted to do something for Advent season for years with the kids, but never find something and always fail to start on time. This year, I happened to find this little "Jesse Tree" Devotional information...the day before it started! I was so excited. I don't know all the details of what a Jesse tree is because this is our first year and I just jumped right into it, but basically what we are doing is touching on main stories in the Bible starting in Genesis and leading up to Christ. I don't really use the suggested devotional readings, just the suggested scripture readings, and the picture ornaments that we color together and hang from our branch.

Isaiah 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; 
   from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 

So, that night or the next day, when we started doing our Jesse Tree, I ran outside for a few minutes to find some sort of branch because it was suggested it should be used to display our "ornaments". Thankfully, it hadn't snowed yet and I was able to find a branch. Then I gathered some other dried grasses and flower heads from the yard. I also cut a piece off the Christmas Tree :) and used a red ribbon to tie it all together. I hung it above our piano and prayed that Tyson wouldn't mind. He is the one with the eye for decorating in our family. :-) I can decorate...his eye for it is just better than mine. Thankfully though he's taught me a lot and I've listened because when he came home, he was so excited and really liked my addition. Yeah! He would have been supportive of it though even if he didn't really care for it too. He's so sweet and would have understood the meaning and value of it as we go through this time of Advent with our children.

Well, that's all for now. More to come soon!