Christmas Windows

Window decorations have always been a part of our Christmas. I was looking at the Christmas book I made for my daughters the other day and noticed that in the early years (Buffalo, Denver, and Springfield those decorations consisted of paper snowflakes that I cut out each year and glued to the living room windows. 

Then in a photo from a Christmas in Greenfield I could see some snowflakes that I made out of  a light colored jute twine from directions, if I remember correctly, in a Better Homes and Gardens. I remember asking my mother if she liked them and being her direct honest self she replied,  “No, no I don’t!” She thought they were too big and ugly, frankly. 

At some point in Northampton, the window directions got quite elaborate. I made the duck/goose curtains for the dining room and crafted different red decorations to hang above them. The living room got different, usually white, decorations. 

When we moved to the condo with a combined living/dining area, I treated all those windows the same and usually hung white, sparkly, or jewel toned decorations in them. The kitchen windows got red and white, often Scandanavian inspired decorations. I usually made the decorations out of paper but often included purchased elements as well. Here are some closeups of the recent living/dining room windows:

Here in Chicago we have no kitchen windows and a whole wall of living and dining room windows. I have decided to treat the living room windows as one area and the dining room areas as another but this year, I had had no ideas of something to make for any of the windows so I used the two different types of garland that I got for gifts last year along with silver snowflakes in the living room area and small red balls in the dining room area. 

It remains challenging to photograph the windows and we are going to take down those yellowed shade toppers soon but for now they are anchoring the garlands and the quilt ornaments that my sister in law makes every year.