The Crowning of the Year

I thought I would begin this blog with December, "the crowning of the year". But of course, it's now January as I begin to report on the December activities.  "The crowning of the year" is a phrase from one of my favorite Advent hymns, People, Look East.

        People, look east.
        the time is near of the crowning of the year.
        Make your house fair as you are able,
        trim the hearth and set the table.
        People, look east, and sing today ---
        Love, the Guest, is on the way.

I see December and Christmas as the "crowning of the year" and I try to "make my house fair" as best I can -- some years more elaborately than others. It's important to prepare my heart for Christmas each year in whatever way is best at that time -- sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less, but I believe we should always prepare for the Christ child. This year was fun because I had fewer other responsibilities.

I officially kicked off the season after Thanksgiving dinner. The family was at my house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. By now they all know that when "turkey day" is celebrated at my house, there will be after dinner activities known as getting Kathy's Christmas decorations out of the attic.

We have an assembly line --- I'm in the attic; Brian is on the stairs; Ronnie, Ryan & Rachel are runners between the attic stairs and the spare bedroom; and Richard is in the bedroom placing the boxes, bins, etc. in the room. Fifteen minutes or so and it's all done -- the season has begun. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the assembly line -- but here is the staging room.

                                      
                                                                     
There is tree #1 with the angel on the top. The angel is an old favorite. My mother purchased the angel many years ago at Belk's on Main Street in Columbia in the days when they had the big animated Christmas window. Mama and Aunt Doris both bought these angels; Ronnie still uses Aunt Doris' angel  on his Christmas tree.



The Angel

Tree # 2 is the Angel Tree. For years, at the annual  Sunday Before Christmas Dinner, Aunt Dean gave us all angel ornaments. Now I have all of my angel ornaments and Mother's.  Mama also made some angel ornaments. So I have turned them all into the Angel Tree -- reminds me of Mama and Aunt Dean.

 

Now the house is decorated and the crowning of the year has begun. It's time to get ready for a fun filled month.