10 Dec 2007

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS



This week it is easy for me to participate in the two games without doing two posts.

For MANIC MONDAY, Morgan asks us to use the word "ornament" in a post.

and for FUN MONDAY Kaytabug had the same idea.

"In the spirit of the season I would like to see your favorite Christmas tree ornament. Not to be confused with the WHOLE tree. I want you to zoom in and show me one or a few(you know I can't choose just one!) of your favorite ornaments. If you don't decorate a tree, show me your menorah or dreidel, Kinara, or Yule Log. I want to see your favorite decoration for this holiday season."

So here are pictures of my favourite ornaments.


I have several of these ceramic houses in which a candle is lightened.



I also love this angel which is very old at least 40 years ! and it is still in a very good shape.


without this Christmas mill, Christmas would not be Christmas, this also belongs to my favourite ornaments. Unfortunately I can't put up the candles because it is too dangerous for my cats.


and this is a little tree made with real nuts, walnuts and pineapples. It is painted in a silver white.

We don't put up our tree that early it is only done next week. So everything is still packed in cartons. That's why I looked on Internet to find some very similar ornaments.


I had a whole angel orchestra, still from my childhood. But meanwhile some angels were broken so there are only a few left. And they look like these. The only difference is, they are not hanging but standing.



We also have a nativity scene which Mr. Gattino got when he was 3 years old. It is very big and represents a whole village. There were no Christmas trees in Italy at this time, but each family had a nativity scene. There are even nativity scene's competitions. Ours is so big that if you put it up properly it would take the size of a bed. But we managed to squeeze it smaller to put it under the Christmas tree. Since our son is not living with us anymore it remains in the attic and we have a smaller one.



But I found on Italian websides these pictures of nativity scenes and they look very similar to ours. Above you see the crip and here the houses and animals.


The figures are almost the same too. At least it gives you an idea of my favourite Christmas ornaments.

This helps me to follow up the non Blogger Blogspotters







41 comments:

  1. we have a little nativity scene which the hubby bought when he was a kid. He really loves it. And a teeny Christmas mill that turns angels when you light the candles.

    Oh this is so much fun to see yours.

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  2. A 40-year-old angel...she's aged well!

    I like Nativity scenes. As you know, it's summer at Christmas time here and when we were kids and lived in a house with a fireplace, we always built a Nativity scene in that. We'd put the Star of Bethleham hanging from the mantle and put hay on the hearth, with all the animals, the three wise men, Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus nestled in. Then we had angels hanging above them.

    We used to love putting that together and it really made the loungeroom look very decorative. As well, we'd have the tree and other decorations in the room.

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  3. My nativity is ceramic. It is special because my dad painted it the year before he passed away. I am glad I stopped by to check out your ornaments - very nice. I also have an angel band - it is about 40 years old.

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  4. Great job! I just love your advent candle mill. I have one but it is metal. I love your angels. One of my favorite memories of Christmas is helping set up the Nativity set.

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  5. Sorry Gattina to enter my link, this is an error! I'm sleeping still...Just a little coucou before going to work! I'm impresse with all your ornaments! I love the old angel! And Melissa should love it too because she's a fun of angel!
    Bonne journée et j'espère que Rosie s'est bien rétablie après son opération!

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  6. Wow, I love all your ornaments, they are amazing!!

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  7. Your candle mill is beautiful. I haven't seen one of those before, but it reminds me of the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyworld.

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  8. The nativity scene has more tradition in Spain than the Xmas tree. I am very minimalist decorating my home over Xmas since we go away before Xmas and come back way after New Year's... I have got two Xmas cards!! I should get a couple done...
    I love to see other people's decorations!!
    I actually leave my linky as a reference blogroll to look up people when the link is lost. I don't updated it for every post.

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  9. Hi Gattine love all your Christmas ornaments specially your well kept 40 year old Angel,,she is beautiful..

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  10. You are right your ornaments are quite different than ours. I have a very simple Christmas mill that I have used teaching science to discuss energy. We do not put up a tree this early either. There is still plenty of time before Christmas.

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  11. I used to have one of those mills with the candles and the heat from the flame would make it spin....I know it was ruined in one of our moves, but I've never ever been able to find one again in the states. The old nativity of your husbands is very treasured!!!!

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  12. What beautiful treasures you have! I'm looking forward to getting mine out now!

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  13. love the angel orchestra.

    the older these things get, the more we treasure them.

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  14. Hello and Guten Morgen..
    Greetings from Canada,
    I am Canadian, but born in Germany.
    Adventszeit is all about childhood memories, customs and traditions, we dearly love and want to share with our friends and family around the world.
    Your Christmas decorations are very nice,
    cheers Gisela
    Cats??
    Our famliy adores cats..

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  15. one other comment..
    Date on you recent post..
    Monday, 31 December 2007???

    I guess you really don't want any
    Christmas presents???
    cheers Gisela

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  16. Beautiful! I love them. But especially the kitty cat with the hat at the very top. There is nothing like a live ornament! LOL

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  17. Beautiful Gattina! I LOVE that angel! We used to have an angel for on top of our Christmas tree... she was very fragile and delicate and had been on my parents tree and maybe even my grandparents tree! She was very old! I used her for many many years myself ... and then one year I took her out of her box and she just disintegrated. Well - her little head remained - because it was ceramic - but her skirt and her wings just turned to dust. It was so sad! I loved that little angel and would NEVER be able to find a replacement. That was the same year Mathew came home from school with his little Teddy Bear mad from a toilet paper roll -- and that bear has sat on top of our tree every year since! 16 years now!

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  18. That's really nice that you still have that nativity from your husband's childhood.

    You know if it wasn't from our grandson I'm not so sure we would have had a tree this year. :)

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  19. Oh what a lovely entry! Isn't decorating so much fun?

    Happy MM!

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  20. you have some very beautiful and heir loomed Christmas treasures!! Just beautiful!!

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  21. That nativity is gorgeous! The gold angel reminds me of the one we had on our tree growing up. The head/face was make of wax...It was so beautiful (like yours!)

    Happy MM! and Fun Monday, too!

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  22. We have one of those candle mill type ornaments too, but I'm never able to find the right kind of candle for them. My kids used to watch it turn for hours.

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  23. Beautiful Gattina. I especially love the 40 year old angel. She is indeed in great shape. Have a wonderful MM. :)

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  24. Wow - what a great looking Angel! Even with her age. How nice to have something like that.

    Dreaming What Ifs...

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  25. Some very beautiful ornaments Gattina! :)

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  26. You've reminded me of the little nativity set my mom had when I was a child. I was facinated with it...all those pieces and all that glitter. She was forever after me to leave it alone. Now I have no idea what has happened to it...

    Susan at A Slice of Life

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  27. My mother just loves angels and to have one that is 40 yrs old and still in such good condition. You have obviously treated her with loving care!

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  28. I love the angel but my favorite of yours is the ceramic house in the first picture. It looks very cosy.

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  29. I love the angel & 40 years old? She is holding up great.

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  30. I used to have one of the angel mills when my girls were small. Thanks for the memory.

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  31. Your ornaments show a lot of thought.

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  32. Your ornaments are so interesting. I have never seen a candle mill before, and I love your nativity scene. It sounds stunning.

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  33. I love the angel! She's absolutely beautiful.

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  34. hi gattina, i was just yesterday at a weihnachtsmarkt in Deidesheim and they were selling different kind of angel ornaments. schade, i would have look for one or two for your collection to replace the damaged ones. well till next time. It was a nice market with lots of handmade work and not the commercial ones made in china. they even call it the artists' christmas market.

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  35. Lovely ornaments but I can scarcly see them for the color of your blog. I declare if I dont have the exact colors on my blog!!! I totally think they are the exact thing. I havent seen another like it. Cool!

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  36. Hallo, eine Krippe so gross wie ein Bett. Wow! Das ist schon toll! Ich muss auch eine Pyramide haben. Gott sei Dank springt Stella nicht auf die Schränke, so dass ich die Kerzen anzünden kann. Aber es ist immer jemand im Raum, wenn Kerzen brennen. LIebe Grüße und eine schöne Vorweihnachtszeit, Andrea

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  37. Wow! I love all your xmas ornaments/decorations. Normally I'm not that fond of angels, but I love yours, both the single one and the orchestra!

    The native scene is really a jewel too. Soooo unique. If I had any ones like that, I'd certainly put them up! Now we just have very few ones.

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  38. Such great stuff and with history! Love it. I want the mill and the Nativity set, please.

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  39. I love your mill. My mother and dad bought one in Bavaria about 20 years ago, and I don't think it would seem like Christmas if it wasn't around!

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  40. You have some very interesting and beautiful ornaments, Gattina. This is a great post. Hope you had a wonderful Monday and the rest of the week follows in kind.

    Alice - I Was Born2Cree8
    http://iwasborn2cree8.blogspot.com

    Reba @ Reba's Run
    http://rebasrun.blogspot.com

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