Sunday, December 21, 2014

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

I've put my book completely away for the holidays and plan to spend the next ten days simply enjoying my family. My younger daughter is home from graduate school and my older daughter is home from San Antonio, so we will all be together this year.

My family has a long, multi-generation tradition of seriously overdoing it in the decorating department. I put up two villages, one under the tree (which is in my office):
And one on the buffet in the dining room:
I also put up two nativity scenes, including this one carved of olive wood by a Palestinian refugee from Bethlehem I befriended in Amman:
And every year, Danielle makes a gingerbread house. This year she was really ambitious; this monster is  almost 20" tall and took the better part of four days:
But the one who enjoys Christmas the most is Huck, who spends all his time under the tree and seriously mourns its departure by Twelfth Night:
Hope you all enjoy the holidays this season, whatever you do or don't celebrate!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

A Merry Christmas to you and yours. Can't wait to actually "see" you in the New Year. Love that Huck stakes out the tree!!! Sabena

Helena said...

Happy Christmas to you all!

paz said...

Merry Christmas! I hope the New Year brings much joy to you and your family.

Lynne said...

Merry Christmas, Candy - and to all the Harris household, including the furry "children".
And the decorations are beautiful!

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year! Your decorations are quite beautiful and Huck is a lucky guy, getting to snuggle up in such a wonderland! Best to you and yours.

Anonymous said...

C- now that's an amazing looking tree. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and enjoy your time off from writing and spending time with your family.

Merry Christmas and the best for 2015!

Best, Ali

Keira Soleore said...

Wish you a very Happy Christmas, Candy! I love, love, love your decorations. Those houses are gorgeous. From where have you been collecting them?

hwueste said...

Beautiful tree. I wonder if you've ever thought of trying to incorporate your beautiful "dolls of many lands" collection into some kind of Christmas display? It would be awesome.... I know, I know; I wouldn't have to do any of the work. Merry Christmas!

Suzanne said...

A very merry Christmas and a happy and safe holiday to everybody.

cs harris said...

Thank you so much everyone for all your Christmas wishes!

hwuest, that is a brilliant idea! My grandmother used to hang dolls on her tree, and I have some little dolls that my brilliantly talented aunts dressed for their trees. They are gorgeous--velvet capes and little hats with flowers and even lace trim sewn on their underpants and socks.

hwueste said...

Well, that sounds like a plan. The dolls must be absolutely gorgeous. I hope you and your family had a wonderfully filling day. We do breakfast for our Christmas family meal so everyone can boogie off to the next meal they have to eat. Then, when all is quiet, I cook a small turkey breast with fixings for my husband for our evening meal. We've found breakfast works brilliantly. Merry Christmas, Candice. God's blessings to you and your 2 and 4 legged family. Holly

Anonymous said...

We just got back from spending Christmas with my 88 year old Dad. He's always been a singer and he can still hold a tune and he sang some very old Christmas songs for us, including a carol with the words of a fifth century saint called St Ita, very beautiful.
I like your decorations, particularly the olive wood Nativity scene carved by the Palestinian. How sad that almost 2000 years after the birth of Christ, we are still suffering a world of religious intolerence. Lets hope for a better future, even if that hope is a mere glimmer of hope.

Susan J. said...

I forgot to put Susan J. on the above comment, that 'I am not a Robot' thing is so distracting! Anyway, the above is me, not anonymous!

mackyton said...

Wow! That Christmas tree is extremely beautiful. All the Christmas décor is looking very pretty. Well, this time I hadn’t celebrated Christmas at home. We went on 10 days family trip to New York. We really enjoyed Christmas events NYC.

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