Hand Painted Ornaments

Christmas ornaments adorn Christmas trees and make the tree look beautiful. A way to add to the beauty of the Christmas tree is to put a hand painted Christmas ornament on the tree.

Hand painted ornaments can be personalized to give a special touch, while others are hand painted designs. For instance, Bronners.com offers a variety of hand painted ornaments in several designs and colors.

Who creates these unique ornaments? There are artisans across the country and around the world that paint beautiful scenes and motifs on Christmas ornaments. Some artisans even paint the designs on the inside of the ornament by using a special bent brush.

Because each artisan offers their own special flair to the ornaments, you are guaranteed to have decorations that are dazzling and creative.

The best part about a hand painted ornament is that no one will have an identical one on their tree. No two are alike!

Top That Tree with a Tree Topper

So you have your Christmas tree covered in decorations, lights and garland. You have a gorgeous Christmas tree skirt to dress the bottom of your tree. It seems your Christmas tree is complete, or is it? Have you glanced at the top of your tree? Is it looking kind of bare? That's because every Christmas tree needs a tree topper to make the look complete.

Christmas tree toppers are usually an angel or a star that slips onto the very top branch of your Christmas tree. Many times, these toppers light up or rotate around the top of your tree for an added something special.

You can select Christmas tree toppers that exude old world charm, such as one that shows a Nativity with the Star of Bethlehem hovering over. While some families prefer stars, others prefer angels. You can select a lovely gold angel with feathers as wings that will add charm to your tree. If you want something different for your tree topper, you can spend more than the usual $15 to $20 for a topper and purchase a Father Christmas tree topper that runs about $50.

Purchasing a tree topper comes down to personal choice. Like all other Christmas tree accessories, you will find a large amount of choices when it comes to what is available in tree toppers. The important thing is to not forget to finish your tree decorating by adding a tree topper; no tree is complete without it!

And if you plan to use a lighted tree topper, don't forget you'll need to save room to plug it in.

Department 56

At Christmas time, many people put out their Christmas village collection, displaying it on a mantle or some other prominent place. One popular brand of Christmas village houses and collectibles is called Department 56. You can find this collection at many fine retail stores and online.

Department 56 has many different villages to choose from. If you wish, purchase a village church, school house, retail shop, restaurant or gas station from Department 56. You can find these items in the various lines of villages in various themes such as Alpine Village, Christmas in the City, New England, Snow Village, North Pole and Dickens.

Department 56 villages and collectibles offer gorgeous colors and buildings that look incredibly realistic. Besides the lighted buildings, many accessory pieces are available including some with motion and sound to make your village come to life.

Department 56 buildings average around $65 and accessories are around $15, but when they are well cared for they can be a beautiful heirloom to pass down from generation to generation. You can decorate a home for Christmas throughout the years. Men, women and children all seem to enjoy setting up villages and showing their creativity and individuality when displaying them. Collectors clubs across the country have village fever.

Department 56 also makes a popular Halloween village line for those village fans who can't wait for Christmas ever year to display theirs.

Hummels

Have you ever heard of Berta Hummel? If so, then you probably know that she was the artist that inspired the figurines known as Hummels. When Berta Hummel was ordained as a nun, her name became Maria Innocentia Hummel (M.I. Hummel). Her art was later produced into Hummel figurines with permission by the Goebel company.


If you love Hummels you may want to consider looking into Hummel collectibles made for the Christmas season. One such collectible made exclusively for the Christmas store, Bronners, is the Silent Night Chapel Musical Hummelscape. This chapel modeled after the original Silent Night Chapel in Austria of which the song Silent Night was first sung in 1818 on Christmas Eve, is a wind up musical collectible that plays Silent Night. It is made of porcelain and is hand painted. It would make a beautiful addition to any Hummel collection.

You may also want to consider celebrating Christmas with Christmas ornaments featuring Hummel figurines on them. You can purchase a set of four Christmas ball ornaments with a Hummel scene featured on it. These Christmas ornaments are sure to dress up any Christmas tree with a fantastic Hummel feel!

There are also Hummel angels available from the Hummel Angel Bell collection that have the year listed. These ceramic angels bells are beautifully painted and then glazed to make a wonderful addition to your Hummel collection. These little angel bells are about two and a half inches tall and will brighten up your Christmas tree or can even be displayed throughout the year if you wish!

Hummel's are wonderful items to collect and you don't have to limit yourself to collecting Hummel figurines just for Christmas. There are Hummel's available for all sorts of occasions at sites such as Bronners.com.

If you've already been collecting Hummels for years or inherited some from family members, you might also be interested in their value. You should look for certain markings on the figurines to confirm they are authentic. There should be a mold number and Goebel stamp, along with a personal stamp of approval. Like any collectible, condition and rarity of a Hummel will affect its value. Check the Robert L. Miller Price Guide or with a legitimate appraiser to find out the value of your Hummel.

Fontanini Nativity Set

If you are looking for a gorgeous Nativity set, you may want to consider a Nativity set made by Fontanini. Fontanini figurines, which are crafted in Italy, are made with a material that is guaranteed not to break or chip, so they last a lifetime.

Fontanini Nativity sets come individually boxed for each piece purchased. You will also get an Heirloom story card that tells the story about each person a figurine is made for. This is a neat way to refresh your memory about what role each person in the set played during Christ's birth.

For example, if you purchase one of the Three Wise Men, such as Balthazar, a story card will be included in the box telling you about Balthazar. He was one of the Wise Men who brought Myrrh to the baby Jesus and was Prince of Africa and King of Saba at the time of his journey to see the baby Jesus. The 5" Balthazar figurine for the Nativity set, which is the most popular, runs for $16.

If you purchase another of the Wise Men, Gaspar, you will find out on your story card that he was responsible for bringing Jesus the frankincense and was over 100 years old when he went to see the baby Jesus. This 5" figurine will cost $16.

A Fontanini Nativity set is a true family heirloom, an educational one at that. Having a Fontanini in your home or giving a Fontanini Nativity, as a gift at Christmas is a lovely gesture, because these figurines are truly gorgeous.

Christmas Car Magnets

You can dress up your mailbox at Christmas, you can dress up the inside of your house and the outside with Christmas decorations and even your trees get pretty twinkling lights to spruce them up. What about your car? Doesn't your car deserve to send a holiday greeting or get in on the holiday spirit as well?

If you want to include your car in your holiday decorating, why not slap a Christmas magnet on the outside of it and call it decorated? But wait, these aren't your ordinary small magnets you put on your fridge, these magnets are made especially for cars, called car magnets. The great news about these car magnets is that they are made from a special material, which won't fade from sunlight or other weather extremes.

Christmas car magnets are about seven inches tall and five inches wide and come in a few Christmas themed magnets just for your car. One Christmas car magnet is that of the Nativity. This black and white car magnet has a beaming North Star, the Holy Family and the words "Merry Christmas" in black and white.

You can also choose a "Joy" car magnet for Christmas as well. The words "Joy" are written in bold red colors with a Nativity scene and the North Star set within the letter O in the word "Joy."

Christmas Decoration Storage

Are you like many people who have tons and tons of Christmas decorations that you set out each year to make your house festive? Do you have boxes full of Christmas decorations? Are you using old cardboard boxes for storing these decorations? You may want to try some of the following tips to keep your Christmas decorations stored well and easy to access as the years pass.

One thing to remember is that many retail stores and chain stores sell plastic totes specifically around Christmas time. These plastic totes are often colored in Christmas colors of green or red. If you purchase some of these storage totes, you will know immediately upon glancing at them in your storage area that those are your Christmas decorations. This will save you from having to dig through clear colored or other plastic totes to look for Christmas decorations each year. Instead, you can simply look for all the totes that are colored green or red and know you have found your Christmas decorations.

You may also want to put a detailed list of what is stored in each box on the outside of the tote. This will save you time when you get each tote out, instead of rifling through each tote trying to see what is packed in it, you can read the outside list.

It is a good idea to store your precious Christmas decorations in a plastic box because your decorations will remain safe from any type of water damage. Make sure to keep the lid tightly closed on all plastic totes that you store Christmas decorations in and expect to pay anywhere from $5 to $15, depending on the size of the tote you purchase. Cardoboard boxes are also a great way to store your Christmas decorations as they are available in many different sizes and comes with dividers inside.