I continue to decorate for Christmas, and hubby is great about helping me out when I ask him to. Today, he put some small nails in our birdhouse so that it could get a little touch of Christmas --
:-D
-- and another one on the back door.
The sunlight was nice for photos this afternoon. I took some pictures last week, but it was a cloudy day, and the pictures look very flat. See the leaves in our shrubbery around the porch? Our son has been getting leaves up every Saturday for weeks now, but they just keep falling and blowing. Hopefully, we'll be finished with them soon.
You can see my pile of greenery that Hal trimmed from the bottom of the tree. I may use some of it for decorating; I used to put fresh greenery on our mantel at Christmas, but it dried out after awhile and didn't look so good. I also hesitate to lay it on our furniture for fear the sap will ruin the wood. I do love the look of fresh greenery when I see it in people's homes, though, and the fragrance is wonderful.
I added the Merry Christmas graphic to cover our house number. Our Moravian star hangs from the porch ceiling. Do you have these where you live? I've seen them all my life because our town was founded by Moravians. The town was originally know as Salem, and I've written several posts on the historically restored community of Old Salem.
The Moravian star originated in Niesky, Germany, in the 1830's. "The stars were used as craft projects to help demonstrate geometry lessons to young boys attending Moravian school. The stars were quickly adopted by the Moravian church as a symbol of the birth of Jesus and represented the star of Bethlehem. The star is traditionally hung the first Sunday of Advent and remains up until Epiphany, January 6, or the time of the coming of the Magi." source
Moravian stars were traditionally made of paper for years (my parents still have a paper one), but now they're mostly made of plastic. They come in a kit with assembly instructions, but you can buy them already assembled (for an added charge) in some places.
source
This is a Moravian star partially assembled. You can see why this would make a good geometry lesson. ;) I've never seen any this color; all the ones around here are usually white.
A 31-foot Moravian Star, one of the largest in the world, sits atop the North Tower of one of our city hospitals, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. I'm hoping to get a chance before Christmas to take some pictures of the Moravian stars around my community because they're so much a part of the history of our town. These are such a traditional part of the Advent and Christmas season for our family; do any of you use them at your home?
Thank you for your visit -- wishing you blessings in this second week of Advent. I'm linking to Amaze Me Monday, hosted by Cindy, and Metamorphosis Monday, hosted by Susan at BNOTP.
Denise
The Moravian star originated in Niesky, Germany, in the 1830's. "The stars were used as craft projects to help demonstrate geometry lessons to young boys attending Moravian school. The stars were quickly adopted by the Moravian church as a symbol of the birth of Jesus and represented the star of Bethlehem. The star is traditionally hung the first Sunday of Advent and remains up until Epiphany, January 6, or the time of the coming of the Magi." source
Moravian stars were traditionally made of paper for years (my parents still have a paper one), but now they're mostly made of plastic. They come in a kit with assembly instructions, but you can buy them already assembled (for an added charge) in some places.
This is a Moravian star partially assembled. You can see why this would make a good geometry lesson. ;) I've never seen any this color; all the ones around here are usually white.
A 31-foot Moravian Star, one of the largest in the world, sits atop the North Tower of one of our city hospitals, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. I'm hoping to get a chance before Christmas to take some pictures of the Moravian stars around my community because they're so much a part of the history of our town. These are such a traditional part of the Advent and Christmas season for our family; do any of you use them at your home?
Thank you for your visit -- wishing you blessings in this second week of Advent. I'm linking to Amaze Me Monday, hosted by Cindy, and Metamorphosis Monday, hosted by Susan at BNOTP.
Denise
Lovin' the little wreaths on the bird house Denise, it's the unexpected touches that are the most fun-enjoy:@)
ReplyDeleteI love the little wreath on the birdhouse. That's just so cute and such a tiny little detail. I didn't know a single bit of that about the Moravian star. I have seen them and love them, but I didn't know about them. Now, of course, you make me want one.
ReplyDeleteSo far, I have put some pillows on the porch and hung a wreath which I hate and plan to take down. I thought that decorating this year would be easier since we redid the outside of the house. It turns out that nothing I used before looks that good against the new color.
It's always something... (In my head, I sound just like Roseanne Rosanna Danna.)
I enjoyed reading about the star, a tradition that I had not known about. I love the little wreaths on the birdhouses. It is beginning to look a little bit like Christmas at your home.
ReplyDeleteSweet little touch on your birdhouse. I really like Moravian stars and I don't think I've seen any around here.
ReplyDeleteHi Denise, I love that you added wreaths to your birdhouse! Such a sweet touch! And I enjoyed learning about the Moravian stars. I knew what they were but did not know the significance of them. We had nice, sunny weather yesterday but today it was all clouds and cold rain today!
ReplyDeleteHi Denise! Oh, you're the most creative one to put those little Christmas wreaths on the birdhouses. They are so cute! I had never seen a Moravian star until recently and would never have know what it was about unless from you! Thanks always for popping in to see me.
ReplyDeleteBe a sweetie,
Shelia :)