Getting ready for Christmas

I spent the day yesterday with Dana. With her MIL's return of cancer diagnosis the day before Thanksgiving, and Dana's constant attention to her, her chemo, blood work, etc., Dana had not felt very festive and didn't have any of her Christmas decorations out.

It seems Dana collects nativity scenes the way I collect Christmas trees. So at my insistence, she got out her Christmas decorations and, after preparing the dining room and kitchen for today, I corralled all the errant sheep and camels, and put this scene together.
Lots of extra animals and wise men showed up also to celebrate the birth in the manger.

As I was working on the Nativity scene on the fireplace hearth, Dana showed me these darling wood blocks her children made. I had been looking for something to put on the buffet after we decided to serve appetizers on what she calls her kitchen table instead of the buffet as we originally planned. I got so excited, I quickly grabbed the bag that she was preparing to pack away again and created this scene using garland, lights, and this darling nativity scene.

Is this Nativity set just TOO cute? I fell in love with it.

I suspect the view from these windows will be a bit whiter today when I return for an early evening Christmas eve celebration, but when I made this setting, this was the view from Dana's kitchen. Again, it was cold and overcast, but no snow or precipitation.

I hope these decorated blocks bring as much of a smile to your face as they did to mine. Merry Christmas eve to all.