Chrismons

Merry Christmas!

Even though I was hit with one of the worst sinus infections ever on Saturday night, it's still been a great Christmas!  I've spent the last 2 days on the couch with a blanket over my head and 4 dogs on top of me - they are such sweet little nurses.  I WAS able to make it out to the Christmas Eve service last night, although I couldn't play my flute (I would have surely coughed up a lung).  It would have been the first I've missed if I hadn't gone, so we sat on the back row so I could scoot out if need-be.

Last Sunday, I took some pictures of the Chrismon Tree at my home church in Smithfield, NC.  I've always loved the Chrismons at church, but was even more excited about seeing them this year after hearing about all the hard work that took place this summer to get ready for Christmas 2012!  About a dozen ladies spent weeks planning, cutting out, and decorating more than 75 new Chrismons to replace ones that were falling apart.  Each is handmade by cutting styrofoam into the correct shape and pinning sequins, pearl, gold balls or trim to give them definition and sparkle.  FBC Smithfield has the most beautiful Chrismon tree I've seen.

You may ask, what is a Chrismon?  Well...they are Christmas tree decorations in the shapes of different Christian symbols.  Some are pretty straightforward, while others I'd never seen before.  Here are some of the newer ones!

If you're interested in making some of your own Chrismons, here's a website that you can download and print patterns from.  I'd love to add a few to our own Christmas tree next year.

More Christmas vacation pictures to come!