Answers and one last decoration.

If you read yesterday's post and the question I left had you up all night in anticipation, I won't keep you in suspense any longer. (If you're just tuning in, check out yesterday's post first.).
Well, my husband did the train set decoration. I did the crackers in the Dutch oven. 
How did you do? Did you guess correctly?
Well, my last snippet of life here at Christmastime shows another Christmas decoration. I got this one in Florida at one of those Christmas stores that are open all year round. But it is not quite what it seems. 

Yes, it's a tiny book tree decoration, but it's not the Holy Bible. It's only the New Testament. It's really all there, written in the smallest font I have ever seen, which is remarkable since I bought it in 1989, when computers didn't do much of this stuff. With a magnifying glass, you can actually read it.
It's important to me because within it is the true meaning of Christmas, one that has been lost to some. We celebrate the birth of a Child who would grow up to die so we can go to God with cleansed souls. He was born in such a lowly, filthy barn to an unmarried mother, that no one could claim to have been born more basal than He, yet He did extraordinary things for us. That's what we're celebrating. His gift to us. That's why we give gifts, in recognition of that.
Give gifts of love and time and of course, fun, this Christmas. Like the birth of any baby, it truly is a joyous time.
Merry Christmas!

Take a guess at who did which one!

The last few years, my husband had done much of the decorating, and I appreciate it. This year, he made a special decoration whilst I did the same. Can you guess who did which?

Now, there is this nice one. We bought this circus train set 20 years ago, (on sale after Christmas) and it lights up and plays music and the kids loved it. The candle on the left was a Christmas gift from the parents of a student in the class where I volunteer, and the church on the right holds a votive candle as well. I bought it at a candle party the year after I bought the train set. It's lovely when it's lit up.

The other decoration is simpler. It's a Dutch oven pot, the kind you cover with hot coals and bury in the ground. This Christmas it's filled with festive crackers. They'd lost favour for a few years, but are back. I remember them from my childhood. Do you?

So, who did which decoration? The answer tomorrow.
 

A few of my favourite decorations

I am not the fashionable tree decorator with in vogue decorations that are tailored to her house. I am not fashionable at all. But rather, I have decorations that mean something to me. I still have homemade decorations and silly ones that were given to me, and even ones that don't match!
I thought I would share a few of my favourite ones with you.
Where we lived years ago, there was a large grocery store down the road and one year, they featured a Pillsbury pastry giveaway. If you bought so many Pillsbury roll packets, you would receive a Beanie Baby like toy. I thought they were cute, and bought enough Pillsbury rolls so I could get all three versions.

 This one, 

and this one,

and lastly, this one.
At various Christmases, they've hung from my tree, or curtains, like this year, or even been tucked away to make their reappearance special. One year, I lost one, but it miraculously appeared the next year. Like most of my Christmases, they are fun, have no ancient significance, (unless you equate them to man's enduring love of bread products,) but they do cheer us up. 
Tomorrow, I will share with you two new decorations. One of my husband's making and one of my own.
 

Is the meat pink?

Okay, I haven't posted in a while, for which I am sorry. But this one should be a nice little bit of insight into my life.
Did you notice the title? I stole this line from a friend named Michael, and I honestly hadn't thought the way he was thinking. Take a look at this photo of the inside of my freezer.

My husband felt we needed the largest turkey we could find. So, we went to Jurassic Park Groceries, and- Okay, the store wasn't called that, but he found this enormous turkey and had to have it. So I thought I would snap a photo of it in the freezer, thinking it would show how big it was.
Well, that didn't work out. It actually looks kind of piddly next to that can of lobster meat, which some of you may not know is in reality, fairly large. That's not tuna can size, you know.
But the funny part was that my friend, Michael, asked, "Is the meat pink?", and it took me a minute to figure out what he meant. 
No, no! This is NOT a frozen flamingo ready to be cooked!  Look closer! Turkey? Dindon? (which is French for turkey) Get it? It's just a big turkey.
And my husband wants to cook it before Christmas. Yup. We're going out this year to two separate family dinners and he wants his turkey beforehand. 
So begins the Christmas fun. I have some other snippets of 'getting ready for the holidays', so tune in tomorrow!