Today’s Giveaway Includes:
- 2 Christmas ornaments
- Wildflowers from Winter by Katie Ganshert
- Submerged by Dani Pettrey
- Addison Blakely: Confessions of a PK by Betsy St. Amant
- Central Park Rendezvous by Kim Vogel Sawyer, Ronie Kendig, Dineen Miller, and MaryLu Tyndall
Before we get to Bethany and Robin, please allow me to explain the ornaments.
I took my little man (who is sadly becoming less and less little every day) to Target to help me pick out the ornaments for the giveaways.
Originally, we were going to purchase two. One for today’s giveaway, and one for the Merry Christmas grand prize giveaway.
Any of you who hang out with me on Twitter or Facebook should know that this son of mine is dinosaur obsessed. So is it any surprise at all, that when we happened upon a bin of dinosaur ornaments, these are what he chose?
He was one happy little man. Smiling from ear to ear.
Which got me thinking (dangerous, I know).
If our eldest is represented by the dinosaurs, why not represent our youngest too? In case you don’t know, we’re in the process of adopting from the Congo. I’m praying, praying, praying that next year, the Gansherts will be celebrating Christmas with our littlest in my arms.
So I decided to purchase four ornaments.
Two dinosaurs from Brogan. And two African animals from our Congolese pumpkin. Hence, the giraffe.
Now, let’s make our way to Peaks, shall we?
First, I asked Bethany, the main character of Wildflowers from Winter, if she has fond memories of a meaningful Christmas ornament or decoration. Here’s what she had to say:
This might sound weird, but the first thing that popped into my head was Grandpa Dan’s nativity set.
It was fresh out of the seventies and a particular shade of hideous, but man, my brother and I loved that thing.
It had a missing wise man and a few extra wooden sheep that obviously did not come with the rest of the set, making a total of seventeen pieces. Starting on December 8th, my brother and I would take turns placing one piece on the mantle each day.
Grandpa Dan would toss a coin and the winner not only got to choose the first piece, they got to add the final installment on Christmas Eve–baby Jesus.
I have no idea why, but of all the Christmases I can remember on the farm, that was always what I looked forward to the most. Grandpa Dan’s coin toss and that tiny, plastic baby Jesus in that tiny, plastic manger.
I asked Robin, the main character of Wishing on Willows, the same thing:
Hands down, the pickle! Please tell me I’m not the only person who couldn’t wait to find the pickle. Every Christmas Eve, after Mom and I went to sleep, Dad would hide the green, pickle-shaped ornament somewhere in our tree. The next morning, Mom and I would race downstairs and start looking. The first person to find it not only got to choose what Christmas movie we’d watch later that evening, they also got to choose what snack we’d have while watching it. Seeing as Mom loved popcorn and I loved M&Ms, our searches were highly competitive.
Anytime I see one of those ornaments, I can’t help but smile.
There you have it. Bethany and Robin’s favorite Christmas decorations.
To be entered to win today’s prizes, all you have to do is tell us about yours!
You will have until nine p.m. central time on Thursday to leave a comment. At which time, all names will be written on a scrap of paper and my husband will draw the winner from my lucky hat (I don’t really have a lucky hat, but I do have a hat). The winner will be announced on Friday.
To be entered to win the grand prize giveaway, you have to answer every question for the next four Wednesdays. To see the complete list of items included in the grand prize, please click on the link.
Your Turn: Tell us about a Christmas ornament or decoration in your house that is odd or has extra special meaning.
If you’d like to sample Wildflowers from Winter, you can read the first three chapters.
I just started a Christmas Time board on Pinterest, in case you’re interested!
Super Easy Christmas Craft:
You will need…
- styrofoam balls
- straight pins
- different color beads
- string or fish wire
Directions…
- Lace a bead through the straight pin and stick it in the ball
- Repeat with whatever patters and colors you would like until the styrofoam ball is covered
- Cut a small piece of string. Tie one end to a straight pin and the other end to another push pin. Stick both pins at the top of the ball and you have yourself a homemade ornament
We have an ornament that has the nativity that my hubby picked out to be in memory of my momma who passed away 15 years ago. It still hurts me to no end like it was yesterday. He did this so that I would feel like she was a part of our Christmas celebration.
[…] you have to answer every “What Does Christmas Mean to You?” question. (Check out the first, second, and third.) To see the complete list of items included in the grand prize, please click on […]
Every year I have purchased an ornament for each of my children, commemorating something about their life that year. Any one of those ornaments are my favorites, as they bring back memories of each child during that particular time in their life.
I have a set of 2 heart ornaments that have an extra special meaning for me. One of the hearts is red and one is blue. As a Pediatric Cardiac Nurse, these ornaments remind me of the patients I take care of and all that they have been through!
My mom made each of her kids (plus grandkids, nieces, nephews…)ornaments every year–handmade with love. Can’t pick a favorite there!
I have many favorite ornaments. One is a set of sleds one of my daughters made out of popsicle sticks. They are painted red and have her siblings’ names on them, even Mother and Dad. Another daughter has made crocheted ornaments which I treasure.
My favorite ornaments are the 4 ornaments that my kids made when they were in K4 and K5. Each has a picture of them at that age. They go on my tree every year. Second to those are the handmade ornaments that my mother has made through the years.
My son would go for the dinos, too!
My favorite ornament is a ceramic gingerbread man with his head glued on. I have no idea why I like that one so much, but it’s been my favorite since I was little, and when I accidentally dropped him as a kid, my mom glued him back together. Now he resides on my tree, and my kids take turns hanging him up each year.
I’m thinking I’m too late to enter this, but I’ll answer anyways – my favorite decoration is the lights – love how they twinkle and just make everything so festive! A good smelling candle doesn’t hurt either!
I have a popsicle stick lollipop-looking ornament from the Christmas when I was 4; it is fun to hang something from my early childhood on the tree every year.
[…] to answer all four of the “What Does Christmas Mean to You?” questions (here’s the first, and the second). To see the complete list of items included in the grand prize, please click on […]
My favorite Christmas decoration is the tree!! I love it that we put live (or wonderfully artificial) trees in our homes for several weeks! They’re just so beautiful lit up in white or colored lights and abundant with different ornaments that hold such special memories. I can’t wait to have a house so I can have two or three Christmas trees!
My favorite Christmas ornaments are the ones we received from a dear friend as a gift when our son was born two weeks before Christmas. He didn’t have a good start and when he came gome from the hospital, we got a baby Christmas tree decorated with tiny blue baby bottles to celebrate our son’s homecoming. It still means a lot to me five years later.
I inherited the little, paper angel with a loop of no-longer-shiny chenille wire, that was the first ornament on my parents’ first Christmas tree in 1922. Each year, that is the very first item that goes on our Christmas tree, very near the top. With modern technology, my youngest daughter was able to copy and print angels for my children and grandchildren. She found sparkly loops with which to hang them. The tradition continues–remembering the angel that announced Jesus’ birth on earth.
Kaye Whitney
There are a couple ornaments my brother and I made when we were little that we always hang.
sorry…ignore previous comment I was hacked!
Christmas is Special just celebrating Christs birth… Christmas Eve service at church with candle light singing Silant Night!
We put our tree up and my husband puts on the lights and then all the grandkids put on the ornaments and we leave the ornaments where they put them. Our tree is not the best decorated but the kids love it and that is what counts
Christmas is a humbling, special time to know that Jesus loves us!
My favorite Christmas ornaments are those which my husband and I purchased for each other. Every year for 25 years, we have bought each other an ornament and put it in each other stockings. I think the only Christmas we missed was the one when we adopted our daughter. Our minds were a bit preoccupied by her that year!!
So many, but my favorite Christmas ornaments are the ones the kids made in school. However, I also love the ones we bought commemorating places we’ve traveled as a family.
[…] four of the “What does Christmas Mean to You?” questions (you can find the first one here). To see the complete list of items included in the grand prize, please click on the […]
Many years ago an older lady that we met “from the other side of town” presented my husband with a crocheted cross that she had made. This gift from her meant the world to him and that year, and every year since, we have placed it at the top of our tree. No angle, no star. A cross on our tree to remind us that Jesus was born to die for us.
[…] to all who shared their favorite Christmas ornament or decoration on Wednesday and Thursday. I loved reading each of the […]
Awe Katie, I love that you let the little man pick the ornament. Thanks makes it all the more special.
Ok my favorite decoration was an ornament on my grandmas tree of a little rocking horse that I could t wait to put on her tree on the night she put it up. Now that same ornament is put on my tree by my children every year.
God bless Katie and thanks for the opportunity!!
My favorite ornaments are crocheted angels my mother made where she used “stiffner” to make them stand up and the skirts stand out. She’s passed away now so it’s always bittersweet to put them on the tree.
Congrats on your impending adoption!!
My favorite ornaments are the picture ones of my kids. When they were born I bought them a snowflake picture ornament and put their hospital picture inside. I chose Snowflake because not one snowflake is the same. God made us unique in his image and I treasure that. Blessings
My favorites on my tree are crocheted angels. I try to find a new one to add to eat every few years.
that should read it not eat!!
My special ornament would be an angel that we bought after I had a miscarriage with our first baby, Jordan. When I saw the ornament in the store the following year at Christmas I just knew I had to buy it. It’s been on our tree ever since.
I have a special ornament that my best friend gave me. She purchased it while in Savannah, GA. It is a silver “Bird Girl” from the movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It brings back many memories of our visit to Savannah a couple of years ago. I moved many miles from my best friend this past summer. I now keep that ornament out all year. But it still graces a special place on my tree.
Our oddest Christmas tree decorations are six silver John Deere tractors. I know, I know John Deere tractors aren’t silver in real life but these ornaments are. My husband bought them from e-bay the first year we were married. They hang on our tree every year. After all, it’s a man’s world isn’t it?! 🙂
Blessings!
Judy
judyjohn2004(at)yahoo(dot)com
I love getting new ornaments every year for my tree…but my favorite is the star on top that we bought whe nwe first got married and its 37years old now…it has so much sentimental meaning that don’t want to part with it.
A special Christmas decoration (not an ornament) is a gingerbread house that my daughter, Mary, made for her grandmother. When my mother died, it came back to my house where we display it every year. It is a little the worse for wear but we love having it out because we remember those holidays and those people that have passed.
My favorite Christmas ornament is the set of 4 beaded bells that my Great Grandma made before I was born, every year since I can remember we have put them on our tree and every year they are the item I look forward to the most. Last year Great Grandma gave me a crocheted bell which will be even more loved this year since this is the first Christmas without Great Grandma…
I have a small teddy bear ornament that goes on our Christmas tree every year. I have had the teddy bear ornament since I was three years old.
I don’t have a special ornament from when I was young. All of us did get to divide the old breakable ornaments we helped put on the tree every year. A great memory I have though is putting the tinsel on the tree. We had to put it on one piece at a time, which took forever, but we all had such fun doing it. I kept a box of the old tinsel just for fun. I also now have a nativity set that I made for my Mom over a three year period. They are ceramic and it is a huge set. The camels stand about 10″ tall. Mom gave it back to me before she got really bad with Alzheimers.
Oh, forgot, back in the late 80’s my Mom started making a handmade ornament for everyone in the family, she put the year on it also. I love thos ornaments even more now after we lost Mom this year and Dad last.
I’ve picked up a nativity from every country we’ve lived in and a couple we’ve traveled through. My favorite/weirdest is a quirky 12 piece set made from Bohemian pottery. The textures and glazes are earthy and beautiful, but Baby Jesus has a pacifier and OLD Joseph is holding a teddy bear. Every person is carrying something odd, and I love it. We got it in Prague the first year we served overseas as missionaries. I’m having fun reading everyone’s comments. Should be writing, though, so see ya! 🙂
Hi Katie,
I’ve been neck-deep in NaNo, and although I’m keeping up on reading all my bloggy friends’ posts, I haven’t been doing much commenting because I feel like every word I put down somewhere else should be added to my WIP! Is that narcissistic or what???? I have 3 days, counting today, to write 6800 words to hit 50,000. I KNOW I can do it. I KNOW I can.
That being said, NaNo is NOT a Christmas/holiday tradition that I love. Ha!
But one that I do love about the holidays is the jigsaw puzzle. Every Thanksgiving, my daddy pulled out the card table, and he and I (and a few other less committed types) hovered over it, competing, talking about the unimportant but oh, so important things of life, and just spending time together transforming a bunch of jumbled and misshapen pieces into something magnificent. That’s what Daddy was to me – a puzzle-putter-togetherer. The table didn’t come down until after the New Year – sometimes we’d do 3 or 4 puzzles in that time!
My Dad passed away five years ago on October 9th, leaving a hole in my life the size of the Grand Canyon. The first Thanksgiving after he was gone, I cried over my puzzle. Then my kids began to pull up seats to the card table, squeezing into his cavernous shoes, and now, every Thanksgiving, I pull out the card table and empty 1000+ pieces onto a cork board. The table doesn’t come down until after New Year.
Oh, and we have a teeny-tiny, ugly-as-all-get-out, handmade yarn Santa that we hide on the Christmas tree every year. Whoever finds it…gets to be the one who finds it! 🙂 Maybe I should rethink my reward system!
Blessings – and know that you and your precious family are in my prayers.
Becky
My sister and I travel quite often, you never know what our next #sisadventure will be. Many years ago we started buying ornaments as our souvenir. So, each year when we decorate it’s like little pieces from all around the world adorn our tree! It always brings back such wonderful memories and fun!!
My favorite ornament is the baby Dani ornament my mom bought the year I was born. It’s a little baby doll nestled on a blanket inside an acorn shell. So sweet.
My favorite was the old fashion candles (real) that you could clip onto the tree. We never had them lit for long, but it was fun to watch.
My mom gave us an ornament every year so we’d have a set when we moved out. I loved the Disney princess ones! 😛
Hey Lindsay,
My mom did the same exact thing, and we’ve been doing the same with our girls since they were little. Such a fun tradition 🙂
My favorite Christmas decoration would have to be my mother’s nativity set. I still love it and have quite a collection of my own.
I have to say that I had to laugh about the dinosaur ornament. My little girl only wants a dinosaur for Christmas this year.
My favorite ornament is a crocheted star my aunt made about 1980. She passed in 1982 and she was something special. The ornament is a special reminder or her and what the star means.
My favorite Christmas ornament is the hand-carved wooden cross I won in an ornament exchange two years ago. It’s exquisite!
My favorite Christmas tree ornaments were always the ones the kids made at school. Blessings.
My favorite Christmas ornaments are a set of crocheted wreaths that my mom made before I was even born. I love ornaments that are handmade!
My favorite ornament is one I made in 2nd grade. Pink beads with a blue bead every so often to make a wreath and then in the middle white beads to make a candle stick and an orange one for a the flame. My mom hung it on the tree every year then when I got married, she gave it to me and my son hung it on the tree this past Sunday. He asked if his big sister made it and I got to share that I had! I’ll have to take a picture and post it on fb! 🙂
Katie, your creativity blows my mind. I’m taking notes.
Ahhh fun!
Okay, so decorating for Christmas with my family is one of my faaaavorite childhood memories. My favorite thing: How Dad would almost ALWAYS get the whole Christmas tree set up and then realize he’d forgotten to put on the tree skirt. Every. Year.
Anyway, on to ornaments: One of my favorites is the one from my mom and dad’s first Christmas together. Thirty-some years later, it’s always still front and center on the tree. It’s been cracked and scratched and taped and glued back together…but it’s always there…and just makes me feel…happy. 🙂
Oh my goodness – what is my deal this morning? Why are so many of these making me teary-eyed? Thanks so much for sharing! Such beautiful memories!
I value all of the ornaments that the kids made as they were growing up. Some have fallen to pieces and can no longer hang on the tree, but they live in the Christmas ornament box anyway. They are a perpetual reminder of God’s faithfulness to us over the years 🙂
My favorite ornament is a special one that my mother bought for me in memory of one of our babies we lost to miscarriage. Every year as we put it on the tree, I remember the four babies that I will one day get to meet.
Back in 2000, we had a friend of a friend make us dough ornaments. She made one of Steve and I. Our kids hang them side by side every year. Gets me every time.
~ Wendy
HI Katie.
Loved the ornaments that Brogan selected…he has good taste 🙂
My most favourite Christmas ornament is a picture of my grandmother (who passed away in 1986)…she was living in a nursing home for a short time and one christmas the activities/crafts director took pictures of all of the residents and decorated them w/ red/green construction paper and gold zig-zag piping and gave them to their families…my grandmother face is glowing in that photo…she was 89 years old.
Looking forward to hanging that special ornament on my tree this year…in it’s esteemed place.
I’d have to say that my favorite ornaments are my three “In Memory of” white porcelain hearts with a photo of my dad, my mother-in-law, and my late husband in each one. This year I will be adding another for my mother who passed away in October.
For as long as I can remember, my mom has bought at least one Christmas ornament each year (for both my brother and I) that commemorates the special events of that year. So, when I decorate my tree, it’s like putting one big scrapbook of memories together. I really enjoy that walk down memory lane each year.
I love that the B-man picked out dinosaur ornaments. That makes them extra-special.
My favorite Christmas decorations are the ones we bought when we lived in Germany. Most of them come from the former Eastern German Erzgebrige area, where you’ll find Germany’s highest mountain and a plethora of talented woodcarvers. My #1 favorite pieces, though, are the beautiful handcarved Holy Family figurines we bought in Oberammergau in southern Bavaria, home of the famous Passion Play. The woodcarver himself sold them to us, so we were able to ooh and aah about his handiwork.