“Angels We Have Heard On High”

(Press play for music to accompany this post.)

“Charlotte worked at finishing the last of the costume pieces: putting the foil from gum wrappers over the cardboard crowns of the wise men…we strung popcorn and the berries from the mistletoe Joe shot out of the trees…cut a star out of two paper sacks and…colored it with red and blue pencils. We glued the two stars together and then Joe lifted Milo so he could ease the star down onto the highest point of the tree.”

The Angels of Morgan Hill, by Donna Van Tiere

We do not have to work as hard on our Christmas decorations as our great-grandparents did! They made all of them and used candles as lights. We also do not need to spend tons of money every Christmas.

Each year I have a new Christmas theme: “It’s All About the Manger,” “Birthday of a King,” and “Christmas Music.” This year’s theme is “Angels We Have Heard on High.” When I went shopping, I was looking for angels, feathers, and tulle.

I spent my allowance on these ceramic feathers that clink when they bump together.

I found these angle bells, 2 rolls of tulle in the wedding section, and 10 feather boas at Dollar Tree.

My daughter made this macrame angel in Girl Scouts.

I have a box of angels and used them in my decorations. I hung this cookie cutter on the tree.

My sister, Michele, gave me a box of decorations. I was thrilled when I found these ceramic angels in that box!

These napkin rings were in the box, too. Since there were only four, I hung them on the tree.

I nestled a few angel tree toppers in my tree to fill in holes.

This angel is in memory of my dad who wore monkey socks. There is an ivory angel in memory of David’s mother on the tree, too.

I added a few gold instruments that I thought an angle might play!

The tree skirt is quilt batting. I draped tulle over the top of it. I wrote a post about the fake tree trunk in “Christmas Music.”

When my youngest son, Derek, saw the finished product he exclaimed, “Mom, is that your robe around the bottom of the tree?” (He gets his sarcasm from me.)

I saved one feather boa to use on my wreath. I tied together some scraps of tulle I had on hand and added an angel ornament, gold bows, and gold bells.