Theme Rooms

Just remember your favorite things about being at your Grandma's at Christmastime.  Gingerbread, Teacakes, divinity, Sugar Cookies....... Put the smells of Grandma's house in your holiday.  Whether it was apples and cinnamon, oranges and apples, gingerbread etc. or a combination of them all.

Have a time of decorating a real tree with strung popcorn and cranberries, paper chains and a homemade silver star on top. Use Candles to light the room in the evening, but be sure to keep an eye on them(if you have little children you may forgo the candles)

Sing carols together or put on a favorite CD that may remind you of Grandma.  Read the Christmas Story to the little ones.

I think for me the most significant reminders of Grandma's Christmas are the smells and baking cookies. Hope this helps some.  My Grandsons love baking cookies and making Christmas candy.  They are 7 and 8. This year the oldest wants to make a gingerbread house. It will be our first.

Decorate with Stockings and Teddy Bears, Christmas Story books, a train going around underneath the Tree.

Don't forget to use pinecones and pine branches to help add wonderful natural beauty and smells to your Christmas.  And Red berries of various kinds. The Kitchen is the central place of activity in Grandma's house.

Keep it simple, and have a great Christmas. I think Christmas at Grandma's is timeless and there's no set rule because every Grandmother is unique.  Let us know how it goes. Charlotte Britt Bolyer.

After the children were grown and in college I changed to an Angel Theme.  The Tree is decorated in angels of different sizes and styles with an angel topper.  Cherubs and angel covered balls or hearts bring up the angel count.The mantel has an angel covering. An angel card holder hangs on the wall next to the door.  Willow Tree angel nativity is on the piano with a flying angel hanging on the wall above it.  Wine, mauve, white  and gold are the color theme. There are angels in each bathroom with tea lights.  Willow Tree angels in the kitchen and family room with various angel toppers with moving angel wings or fibre optic lighting.  We have a couple of Christmas parties for our staff and friends.  One of the games we play is to see who can guess how many angels are on the tree and in the rooms.  The one who guess is closest wins a nice prize -- no not an angel.  Each year I try to add a new angel ornament or decoration to the rooms.  The angels were the first to celebrate and annoucne the birth of Christ.  I believe we should celebrate more in life.  The angels are a reminder to CELEBRATE!  Celebrate life, family friends, health and the love of Emmanuel -- God with us!

I'd love to see a picture of Krisann's dining room.  It sounds beautiful!

It sounds beautiful Krisann!  Your Santa and The Christ Child ornament belong in your Santa Room.  Either would be great, but to see Santa bowing beside the baby Jesus in a room full of Santa's sure humbles your heart and helps not just you but everyone who see it realize the true meaning of Christmas.  I remember when I first saw the Statue of Santa and the Christchild for the first time ever.  It spoke volume's to me.  It is about a 18 inches tall and 20 inches wide.  I had to put it on lay-a-way, but I had to have it.  It is my favorite piece to put out every year.

Hi Theresa,

 I am not really into themes, but I had to comment on the facct that your entryway is what Christmas is all about.  I applaud you.   I decided to write to tell you my story about a very special Nativity set.  My Grandmother had an outstanding Nativity set and creche.  Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus were made of ceramic.  Baby Jesus' eyes were made of glass, and they were the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen in something like this.  The rest of the pieces were made of paper mache, all painted with great detail.  There were the 3 Wise Men, 2 shepards with lambs, a cow, camel and donkey.  There was a star that was lit using a c7 night light bulb, white of course.  This was in the 3 foot long, by 2 feet high, by 1 foot deep creche.  These pieces were big.  Baby Jesus was 6 or 7 inches long, so you can imagine the size of the rest of the pieces.  I'm not sure how my Grandmother came to have this Nativity.  I'm sure she probably told me, but I don't remember.  My Grandmother passed in August of 1972.  She had not left the Nativity to anyone, but the whole family knew that it had to belong to me.  I would stand there and stare at it for a long time.  Even as a child, and it got to the point, as I got old enough to be careful when touching, that I was invited to help my Grandmother set it up.  I was 12 when she passed.  In 1975, we were involved in a flood.  7 feet of water in an 8 foot basement.  All of the Christmas decorations, including the Nativity were in the basement.   We were taken out in canoe's, all of my neighbors too.  We were not allowed into our basements to get anything, because the water that was still in them, was electrified, even though they had turned the electricity off to the whole area.  The circuit breaker box was still under water, and it had been on when the flood occurred.  Since then, I am no longer materialistic (I was 12 when my Grandmother died.), because it was very easy to realize that it was better that we were safe, than to lament the "things" we lost.  But I still think about that Nativity all the time.  Since the invention of the internet, I have looked online trying to replace it, but unfortunately, have found nothing even close.  I have chosen to start buying the Lenox Rennaissance Nativity, because that is the closest I've found, though not in size, to the Nativity I lost.  I thought you might enjoy hearing about my Nativity, being you place yours in your entryway, so that tells me it's important to you.