Beekissed
Mountain Sage
I love Christmas! 
It never gets old to me and my kids are about grown. We've never had much in the way of presents and such, so I guess the materialistic side of Christmas never got to us. Its the colors, smells and feel of Christmas that I concentrate on the most. In lieu of presents(as I've never had much money for any) I wanted my kids to at least remember the "feel" of Christmas. I use live pine bough swags, candles, potpourri and such to create the smells, and warm reds and golds in the rugs, decorations, etc. to create a warm glow about the house.
When they were little I started a tradition that was just our own...instead of putting presents around the tree (sometimes we didn't have one anyway), we placed them around a nativity scene. I bought it when my oldest was a baby and we've kept the same one. Its a little worse for wear but we put lights around it and make it look magical each year. On Christmas eve we used to turn out all the lights, except the string around the nativity, and I would read the Bible story about it.
Now that they are older we just turn out the lights and talk about all the Christmas's past, what we are thankful for and how happy we are. I know, I know, a little smarmy and sentimental but, when you don't have much, you make the most of it all the same!
I hope the kids will remember the feeling of being close, cozy and loved for Christmas cause they sure aren't going to remember the presents!
It never gets old to me and my kids are about grown. We've never had much in the way of presents and such, so I guess the materialistic side of Christmas never got to us. Its the colors, smells and feel of Christmas that I concentrate on the most. In lieu of presents(as I've never had much money for any) I wanted my kids to at least remember the "feel" of Christmas. I use live pine bough swags, candles, potpourri and such to create the smells, and warm reds and golds in the rugs, decorations, etc. to create a warm glow about the house.
When they were little I started a tradition that was just our own...instead of putting presents around the tree (sometimes we didn't have one anyway), we placed them around a nativity scene. I bought it when my oldest was a baby and we've kept the same one. Its a little worse for wear but we put lights around it and make it look magical each year. On Christmas eve we used to turn out all the lights, except the string around the nativity, and I would read the Bible story about it.
Now that they are older we just turn out the lights and talk about all the Christmas's past, what we are thankful for and how happy we are. I know, I know, a little smarmy and sentimental but, when you don't have much, you make the most of it all the same!
I hope the kids will remember the feeling of being close, cozy and loved for Christmas cause they sure aren't going to remember the presents!
