Family Decorating Traditions
Advent Wreath with Bine Barrel Stave, Glass Votives, Gargand and Purple and Pink Candles
As I’ve shared over the last week, Christmas is an important holiday in my family. Thus far, I’ve highlighted the more commercial side of our Christmas preparation. So today I thought I’d share a little bit about our religious decorating tradition. I’m what some would call a cradle Catholic as are my girls, and my parents whereas Andy is a Catholic by conversion.
Two decorating traditions we have in our house that speak specifically to our religion and religious upbring include the Advent wreath or adaptation of a wreath, and the inclusion of the Manger. Growing up I don’t remember my family having an Advent wreath in the house but there was always one in church and a candle was lit each Sunday of Advent. This tradition I’ve brought into our home. Over the years our Advent wreath has changed in appearances. One year I made a pinecone wreath in which I placed the three purple and one pink candle. Another year I decided to make my own candles because it was becoming increasingly harder to find the correct color of candles. Over the last few years, I’ve reinvented our wreath using a wine barrel stave that I had a friend turn into a rustic and or contemporary five candle opera. For our Advent wreath, I take the center votive candle holder out and wrap the wooden stave with decorative garland and place the four colored candles in the remaining glass votives. Then, each week we light a candle. Our current votives are scented with lavender and rose, although I think it might be fun to again make my own votives and perhaps scent them with something like frankincense and myrrh essential oil. Candle making has always been an interest of mine so I will add this to my never ending ‘to do’ list and report back when I’ve conducted this home décor experiment!
One of a Kind Hand Crafted Manger made by Terri Carey
The other Christmas decorating tradition relating to our religious beliefs is the Manger. The Manger is a reproduction of where baby Jesus was born on Christmas night. This decoration is another one of my favorites as I have vivid memories of mom setting it up each holiday. Later when I was older, I got the honor of setting it up. When I was in high school, I remember mom would place our Manger under the Christmas tree. It had white twinkling lights and she had spun glass that I would strategically place over and around the little house so that it had an ethereal feeling to it as the glass glowed in the light. I’d then place baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, a cow, donkey, three shepherds, two sheep and the three wise men within and around the Manger. One Christmas I remember completing this task and then lying on the floor in front of the Christmas tree, listening to music, looking at the Manger and drifting off to sleep right there in the living room.
My Manger is an exact replica of my mom’s because she made it for me and used her Manger as the model. She made it using straw, sticks and dried vines that she wove around the structure frame. It is one of my most prized Christmas decorations. I have the same figures she has and the same twinkling lights. The only thing I don’t have is the spun glass, apparently it was a health hazard and they stopped making it, bummer! In its place, I have synthetic white fluff that looks more like what you’d stuff your pillow with than the other worldly spun glass from my youth. That deviation aside, my Manger has its place of honor in our library on top of our liquor cabinet between the two floor to ceiling bookcases. The library is one of our favorite rooms in the house as it is our quiet place where we enjoy our coffee, read, Andy practices his guitar, we listen to music or where we enjoy a lovely glass of wine after a long day at work. This seems like an appropriate place for such a special and revered decoration. As we move closer to Christmas day, I will continue to post on different aspects of our family holiday traditions that relate to cooking and celebration but for now I hope you enjoyed reading out our Christmas decorating traditions!
