This is our third Christmas overseas. I can honestly say I never saw that coming when I boxed up all of our Christmas items for storage thinking, “I’ll see you next year.” My advent calender, all the Christmas picture books, our stockings, singing snowman, ornaments from various places we’ve lived, and lots of other things that I’m sure I’ll be surprised by when we are eventually reunited with our “stuff” a few years from now.
Last year I didn’t have any Christmas decorations except for a naked tree that was a gift from our neighbors, the Aldermans, when they moved to Germany. I didn’t feel up to creating a Christmas out of nothing, but thanks to peer pressure from Facebook and the kindness of friends who shared some of their ornaments with us, we had one of my favorite trees ever. When we put up the tree today it was fun to pull out the ornaments that have become special to us after just one year:
I adore this little crocheted Santa from my friend Summer!
A handwoven basket from Cheyenne from her trip to Rwanda.
For this Dutch girl, an ornament from Holland (from Josh’s mom).
Our Omani camels from Josh’s mom (That’s the Oman flag painted on its back).
traditional coffeepot
and khanjar that I picked up at the Taism craft fair
Jennifer brought these woodcut deer back from Germany
Handmade (beanbag) throwing stars from my talented quilting friend Kristi
I put these guys in charge of the tree this year and they did all the work — untangling lights, arranging branches, and hanging ornaments.
Thanks to our many friends, we have lots of Christmas cheer!