Letting go of Christmas and moving on to snowmen

For the last couple of years I have been putting out Christmas decorations in December and saving back snowmen for January.  This year especially I kept things pretty simple and didn't put out a lot of my decorations. I actually like doing it this way because then when I get the decorations out the next year I find "old friends" and they feel like new things to use.  (I'm a little simple-minded at times...)  Here are some pictures of my December/January decorations.  
The first three pictures show my favorite Christmas pictures.  I leave these out for the whole winter.  They are pastels that we had done by a very talented woman in our town.  You can see her website here.  We also have a series that she did of our son fishing on a little family vacation we took.  I'll post those with some Spring pictures later. 

This one is my absolute favorite.  She captured joy on my husband's face perfectly.

It's not really a Christmas picture, but I call this one "A Gift for the Baby"
because it makes me think of Jesus in the manger.  

Our little Christmas tree in Clinton's red wagon.

I got this for gift at school this year.  The kids stood around it in my
classroom and pretended to warm their hands.
That gave me joy. :)

I took the red ornaments off the garland and left the lights and garland on the railing.  
Actually, I have lights and garland of some kind on the railing year round.
I hope the white light maker people never figure out that they could
charge therapy prices for those little twinklers. : )

The switchover from Santa cookie jar to Snowman cookie jar.  These are Nancy Halvorsen patterns (Art to Heart).

Some favorite snowman things.  I love the little burn barrel especially.
The two on each end get tealights and they look so cozy when they are all aglow. 

 

This is my mantel.  It's tricky to decorate because it's set into a corner.
The airplane is thinking about flying away to a new location soon,
but my husband doesn't know that yet...

I know the "Pledge of Allegiance" isn't particularly Christmas or winter,
but at our house we think it's an every day thing. : )
The snowman on the left is also an Art to Heart pattern.  He fits over a 2-liter bottle.

The plate above the shelf was done by by husband's great aunt.
We have a collection of four, one for each season
and I love getting each one out as the seasons change.

I found some joy while I was getting the snowmen out last night. : )

This is one of my favorite quilts that I've made.  See, I do finish things occasionally! 

And another New Year's finish! 

I'm planning to use it for a table topper 

or wallhanging in late summer/fall.

Joy!