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Celebrating the Joy of Living & Home Making ~

Baking, Cooking, Decorating, Tea Time, and taking Inspiration from those I love and the world around me...

A sharing of my heart and my home from a Christian perspective

...with a wee bit of whimsy added.

Thursday 6 December 2018

The ABC's of Christmas - N


"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,

Everywhere you go..."


The ABC's of Christmas - N


Hello friends and welcome to the ABC's of Christmas. Today, I'm doing the letter N.

is for...
Nativity, Noel, Nutcracker.

My nativity, I have already shared with you but I want to share it once more.
It was built for me by a gentleman in our last church.
I added gold garland for the straw and set in my porcelain figurines.
Each figurine is made by Avon and they date from 1981-1989.
They were all collected as gifts from family members and friends over the years and they hold much sentimental value.

I keep the little Bible open at Luke 2 for the Christmas story.

This little Nativity was a gift from a family member.


Usually the Nativity is simply, but charmingly, performed in the school or local church. An adorable cast of young children re-enact the story of Jesus' birth. While a couple of children may land the starring role of Mary and Joseph, a chorus is made up of various shepherds, angels, kings, and animals who wear an array of homemade headdresses and posterboard crowns. Sadly, over the past number of years the Christmas story is being presented less and less in schools because it is thought to be offensive by some. However, one may still enjoy the delightful performance in the neighbourhood church.


Noel (or noël) is an alternate word for Christmas. The word comes from the French word Noël meaning "Christmas" which derives from the Old French word noël, a variant of nael. The Latin origin is the word natalis ("birth").

A Nutcracker is a mechanical device for cracking nuts. The earliest use of the term nutcracker in English dates to 1481.

Of course, we all love the famous ballet, the Nutcracker. 
I have a few nutcrackers myself although I do not have them all out this year. My grandson Brent used to claim his favourite Christmas decorations were nutcrackers!

Source Internet

Nutcrackers in the form of wooden carvings of a soldier, knight, king, or other profession have existed since at least the 15th century. These nutcrackers portray a person with a large mouth which the operator opens by lifting a lever in the back of the figurine. Originally one could insert a nut in the big-toothed mouth, press down and thereby crack the nut. Modern nutcrackers in this style serve mostly for decoration, mainly at Christmastime. The ballet The Nutcracker derives its name from this festive holiday decoration.


This is one of my little trees decorated with mini nutcrackers.

One of my nutcrackers on the tree.

This nutcracker stands guard beside my gingerbread house at my Sugar Plum Fairy Tea which I hosted a few years ago.


Thank you for stopping by and please come back tomorrow for the letter O.


Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi

6 comments :

  1. Sandi, I don't know if I have even an ordinary little nutcracker anymore. I've been buying nuts already taken out of their shells for so long now that it hasn't been out of the drawer in years! I'm going to go check now and see if I still have it! Do you have one in your amazing collection that you actually crack nuts with?

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  2. Your Nativity scene is lovely. The little nutcrackers decorating your tree made me smile. A few years ago, I saw a nutcracker teapot but I convinced myself that I didn't need it. Of course, I regret letting it go because I haven't seen anything similar since.

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  3. I loved your sharing the three N's. I too, am only putting out one nutcracker this year--after he is repaired...seems we have collected a lot of Christmas over the years. Special Noel wishes to you, Sandi

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  4. ok, I will need to make a cup of tea and catch up on your alphabet here! What a great idea! Never had a nutcracker, but do have a nativity scene. xo
    ps loved seeing the pics of that Sugar Plum Fairy Tea again!

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  5. I've gotten behind in following your alphabet, so must get caught up. I loved this one. Nativity is my favorite part of Christmas. And especially seeing a "live nativity", whether by children or adults, with music or without. It always blesses me. Noel is a beautiful word. I had always said if I ever had a daughter, (which I didn't...3 boys instead) I would name her "Robin Noel". Nutcrackers are fun. I don't have any, except a couple of ornaments on the tree. I guess I never got around to collecting them and no one every gave me one. So I can enjoy yours! They are fun and interesting "creatures". "Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel..Born is the King of Israel"

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  6. I have to tell you a cute story regarding Noel. My mom had green candles in the shape of a boot spelling out each letter to complete the word.

    My dad and brother used to rearrange the letters to spell different words to see how long it took my mom to notice. She would always laugh. How I miss her smile.

    Cindy

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I am delighted to have you visit me and I read every comment. Please forgive me for not being able to visit you all as there are so many of you lovely bloggy friends now. I will visit as much as possible. I wish you a day filled with JOY!

Also, due to the amount of spam I've been getting, I have had to set Comment Moderation. ~ Sandi

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