By using antiques, family pieces and auction finds, Mary Brass decorates her home for the Christmas season.
Upon entry to her rural Lennox home, she has decorated her formal dining room table that came from England with her fine china that she registered for as a young bride in the 1970s. While they seldom eat in there, Brass enjoys decorating the table with her fine china, along with the eclectic assortment of napkin rings she received as part of her 50th birthday.
Brass has 11 siblings. They started a tradition of each time one them turns 50 the rest of them find a different version of something. When it came to her turn, she said to surprise her.
“They talked it through and said Mary just loves using real napkins. I seldom use a napkin ring, but it sure is fun to have them,” she said.
Brass also decorates the table with a table runner her mother quilted, along with antique ornaments from her folks’ tree and Goeman Auction.
Brass and her husband, Lorin, graduated from South Dakota Mines in 1977 and 1975, respectively. They lived in Houston after graduating, then New Orleans, then Houston again, then Bakersfield, Houston again, the Netherlands for eight years before he retired from Shell and finally moving to their home just outside of Lennox in 2006.
She completes the table decorations with water glasses she bought in Oman when on a business trip with Lorin.
While she wouldn’t consider herself a collector because she doesn’t go searching for items, she still enjoys collecting napkin rings, antiques and nativity scenes. Brass has a lot of nativities with two in the dining room.
The blue nativity scene in her kitchen came from her childhood home. She noted that most of the pieces have been broken and repaired.
When she was growing up, her mom set it up on top of the television set and then later on top of the piano.
She has a nativity made of newspapers and wood that she purchased at the old 10,000 Villages with some Christmas gift money.
“I think they’re just fabulous,” Brass said.
She keeps her favorite nativity in the cabinet in the living room.
“The nativity scene is in there almost all the time. This we bought in Rome,” Brass said. “The icon in the back that was painted by a dear friend who was in the Netherlands at the same time we were and now lives in Houston.”
Brass sets up two Christmas trees - one in the main floor living room and one in the basement. The tree on the main floor has many unique ornaments.
“I could probably tell a story about every single thing on there,” Brass said.
One of her favorites is a photo ornament her daughter gifts her every year. Some of her other favorites include some doll ornaments she bought in Russia.
The basement tree has more casual ornaments. Her sister-in-law is crafty with plastic canvas and made some of the ornaments. Her mother-in-law made a barn plastic canvas ornament. Her five sisters are very thoughtful and think about ornaments that should go on her tree.
“We lived in Houston a lot so a lot were made by a community of handicapped individuals,” she said.
When they lived in the Netherlands, they lived in a house that came with two pieces of furniture. One piece of furniture was a homemade table in the kitchen built to fit the space and a Steinway grand piano.
“They said if it’s a problem they’ll find a way to move it and said trust me it is not a problem,” Brass said. “Two of our daughters are every good piano players and so when we left the Netherlands our landlord didn’t want to sell it so I said we’ll find one when we get to America. That’s why we have a grand piano.”
Her decorating in the basement includes a mantle full of nutcrackers. Several of them came from Goeman Auction but many others came from Europe.
“Some I purchased because I was given gift money and that’s one of my favorite ways to spend it. Three or four of them I bought at Christmas markets in Germany,” she said.
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