An Old-Fashioned Christmas

An Old-Fashioned Christmas

 


Choose and Cut Christmas Trees
People come from all over the southeast to choose and cut their own Christmas tree in Western North Carolina. Many local tree farms offer hot chocolate and other treats while your family selects the perfect tree for your living room. Tree farmers are happy to bale your tree and help you tie it to your vehicle for a safe journey home. Go to NCChristmasTrees.com and click under “Search for Trees” to find a Choose and Cut Farm near you.

Don the Old-Fashioned Fir
Many families enjoy the tradition of choosing an annual Christmas ornament to represent the year past. You may create an ornament with a memento from a family vacation taken during 2011. Maybe a picture of a new family member (new child, son or daughter-in-law, grandchild) framed in an ornamental shape will joyously capture your expanding family.

If an old-fashioned tree is what your heart desires, you may search antique stores for wax or blown-glass ornaments, antique tin, or purchase reproductions through specialty shops. Mast General Store has selected a festive series of ornaments with an antique flair that are also made in the USA. Trimming the tree with tinsel and angel hair rounds out the perfect old-fashioned look.

Christmas Decorations with Meaning
According to Christmas lore, many popular decorations carry great meaning. The Christmas wreath is a symbol of ceaseless love, its circular shape illustrating that eternal love has no end. The gift bow is tied to demonstrate that we are all tied together in bonds of goodwill forever. Favorite old-fashioned decorations, the pinecone and teapot, represent two important holiday values. The pinecone signifies warmth and the teapot represents hospitality. Decorations are a cheerful way of remembering those things held most dear throughout this special season.

Stockings Filled with Cheer
On December 25th, many Frasier Firs are loaded with gifts beneath the tree. For several centuries, Christmas gifts fit into a simple and useful sack. European children hung their socks on the mantle, hoping that St. Nicholas would fill them with fruit, candy, coins, and small toys. A round orange perfectly filled the toe and this piece of citrus was considered a rare treat in the cold winter months.

An old-fashioned stocking is made out of a cheerful red or mulberry-colored felt and lined along the top with white. Some fun stocking stuffer ideas for the perfect retro stocking are a Sock Monkey keychain, Slinky, Gumby and Pokey dolls, and even a Smarties Candy jumbo roll. There are many whimsical ways to fill a stocking with gifts that communicate special meaning to the recipient.

While choosing the perfect tree, decorating your home, and rushing around to find the perfect gifts for those far and near, it is wise to remember what Bob Hope said best, “My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?" We couldn’t agree more. Wishing you and yours the happiest  of holidays and prosperous New Year from your friends at Mast General Store.