Jolly old St. Nick stands in the dining room making the final bow for his Christmas presents. This is a numbered limited edition Dept. 56 statue, Time for Santa.

This large plastercraft nativity was painted by me when I was 11 years old. I had taken Jesus, Mary and Joseph to school for show and tell and broke them on my way home. My art teacher ran the craft store where I bought them and she was not happy with me when I came to show and tell her what I did. But being the nice lady she is, she gave me replacements.

The holiday deer lights stand on the lookout at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the city on a snowy night.

On the piano, the chorus of Byers' Choice carolers sing their hearts out for all to hear.

Holiday lights illuminate the front porch to welcome guests in out of the cold.

On the kitchen table stands our natural tree. It's bedecked with raffia for garland, dried fruit slices, seed balls and beeswax candles for a truly natural Christmas.

This is the first time in 20 years that Dept. 56 houses did not figure somewhere into the holiday scheme. It was a nice change and gave a chance to showcase a more natural theme for the holiday with poinsettias and white pine garland decking the fireplace.