Nutcrackers fill our house. I don’t know where this deep fascination with these inanimate objects came from, but all I know is that they’re everywhere. Nutcrackers guard our fireplace mantles, they stand at attention at the entrance of our doorways, and they even keep watch over the landing of our stairs to the second floor. They’re everywhere, I tell you.
Stuffed snowmen fill our house, too. They hang on our home’s front door in the form of a wreath. They sit as decoration on the landing into our basement. They even grace our little winter town display on the bay window. They’re everywhere, I tell you.
If you’re wondering what I’m talking about for this Freedom Friday article, wonder no more. It’s all about this season’s decorations.
Tinsel is a big feature in our home this winter. I don’t think anyone is safe going anywhere without encountering the red, silver and gold decoration. It travels along the railings of the staircases. It covers our furniture. And it’s in places I didn’t even think it would appear. But that’s another story.
And the lights? The seemingly endless strands of lights? There’s no end to them. I’m sure you’re going to ask where they lie. But I’m afraid to say. I’m afraid. Are you ready? They run along the staircase, they cover the fireplace mantles, and they rest on a small table in the foyer to light the way for us when we come back from visiting friends in the late evening hours. They cover the bay window, providing color to a cold winter night. They’re in the form of trinkets spread through the house, and they’re always ready to amuse after our evening meal when all we want to do is lie on the couch and relax. I’m sure they’re in other places. I just don’t know where. After the holidays, it’s like an Easter egg hunt. We wonder where we put them all only to find them in July wedged in a corner somewhere before a visit to the park or after a family BBQ.
But you know what? I like this time of year. Not so much for all the decorations, although they make the winter months seem warmer, but for the feeling I get when sitting by the fireplace with a hot drink in my hand. It’s calming. Relaxing. Soothing. Especially with the wind howling outside, the temperatures dropping to sub-zero, and snow filling our driveway. I don’t know, it’s just—just perfect. If only the feeling would last all year round.
Wouldn’t that be something?
Do you decorate for the season? What do you do to make the year end special?
Looking to God 
Hey I finally got myself a nutcracker… there is just something sort of awesome about those little fellas that just can’t be explained… I don’t have that many decorations about though… the first year I was on my own to decorate for Christmas I just focused on the Christmas tree… and since then I’ve slowly been getting a few more decorations for the rest of the house… but it is a magical time of year… everything just seems so much more hopeful… there’s the excitement of what Santa may bring you… and the fun of getting to see others enjoy the gifts you got them… and I think there’s something about having the house filled with lights and sparkly ornaments that just brightens the mood… though it’s really about watching once more all those old Christmas movies… I’m talking about the claymation ones that are so ridiculous that they play every year… it’s like being a kid again…
My house looks like Santa cloned himself and took over my house!!!
(it’s funny because I just wrote about when I stopped believing in Santa as a child. …but I guess in some ways I like what he represents. ..noooo not toys, but pure grandpa like goodness. )
Santa Claus is a Time Lord ( which will make no sense unless you’re familiar with the British ” Doctor Who ” series. 🙂 ).
Never watched Dr. Who but Santa as a Time Lord is pretty awesome.
I’m a not – so – closeted geek / nerd, sci – fi, fantasy & horror ( like Doctor Who ) are my drug fix. 🙂 The new Doctor Who has Christmas episodes every year.
that would actually explain a lot… like how his Santa Sack is bigger on the inside and can hold all those toys… and of course being everyone at once on a single night…
The start of this blog sounded quite sinsiter: nutcrackers and a stuffed snowman hanging from the front door. But then you mentioned decorations and the House of Hannibal suddenly became something much more benevolent.
We stopped using lights at Christmas following numerous electrical catastrophes, and whilst there is one pair of nutcrackers, there are no nuts. For me, the one thing that makes Christmas more than anything else is snow and in Britain we tend to get that in late January!
Chris
You guessed it. I was going for sinister but came to my senses.
Never been much for the decorating aspect, but I can’t deny the allure of sitting in a dark room with a big thermos of coffee, staring out the window and the odd blue-white fairy light that comes with the snow. If I had the opportunity all the time, though, I suspect it wouldn’t be as appealing. Familiarity breeding contempt, that sort of thing.
I look forward to the lights. It is a change of pace. And then we put everything away until the next year. May you and yours have a great season and new year.
Thanks very much, Barry. Likewise.
That’s one key psychological component of this season, both tangible & slightly intangible. It’s a bright spot, an emotional beacon of warmth & color in an otherwise drab, dreary season when the Earth seems dormant & maybe slightly inhospitable ( at least to those of us living in areas that tend to get hit by Old Man Winter ). It’s like a big ” X ” on a snowy treasure map !
I <2 Nutcrackers! I have had a fascination with them ever since I was a little girl in elementary school and saw the play. I have over a dozen and have a few I keep up year round. I have a few Christmas themed ones that go up only at Christmas time. I even have a set of a dozen ornaments for the tree my Mom gave me one year. I think they are pretty kool.