How My Husband Got Religion At Kohl's

St. Andrew's Church photo courtesy of Lemax

Every Christmas my husband, just once, gets himself to our church, St. Andrews in Drexel Hill.  Yes church... it's hard to get him up and moving, he's not a terribly religious person nor does he like getting up in the morning.  So church is not high on his list of priorities.  But this Christmas my husband got religion.  I have to admit he's the last person I ever thought would be 'born again.'   But this Christmas season he got religion at Kohl's. 

Photo courtesy of Lemax

Yes, I know... I hear you saying to yourself, Kohl's? The Store? The one where I bought my kids boots and a new mixer? Yes THAT Kohl's. It seems it's not safe to send my husband into Kohl's or the hardware store. Now he has a new collection, but this time it's not houses, it's churches. LEMAX Churches. Not just one you understand, not just two, no he now is the proud owner of THREE churches. One has a gleaming gold cross on the steeple with his own personal minister out front. 

He found his very own St. Andrew's Church on the shelves of Kohl's.  It lights up and is decorated for Christmas, so now he has his own excuse to stay home from Christmas morning mass! Of course I threatened him with blaring hymns for him to listen to while I was at church and recording the sermon for him to listen to later.  Yes, Christmas morning mass is nothing like it used to be. 

Photo courtesy of Lemax

So now my husband doesn't even have to leave home to get religion.  Now he has his choice of three different churches in our living room.  Not quite the same as when my daughters decided to become Baptists (they go to church, real church).  Somehow I doubt their old pastor would be as upset over that as my husband's new religion.  The religion of "plugging in and sleeping in."  He lights up his churches and proceeds to catch another 40 winks.  Somehow I can't quite justify it... I'm still going to old fashioned church.  Some things never change!

Danger, Men and Hardware Stores (A Cautionary Christmas Tale)

We all have places or things we love to spend money.  For some it's the mall, for others CVS is a magnet, some love QVC or The Shopping Network, yet others live on Amazon.com.  But for most men one of their addictions is anything you can buy in a hardware store.  At Christmas this can result in a whole new set of holiday traditions.  EXPENSIVE holiday traditions. 

Every family has their own set of Christmas traditions.  For some it's a special set of ornaments, others putting out a collection of nutcrackers, yet others bake an insane amount of Christmas cookies or put up a train set, others their nativity set.  But our house is different.  At our house Christmas is all about real estate.

Four years ago my husband went to the hardware store for some nails.  Nails, a small and insignificant enough purchase, so I gave him my debit card... my mistake!  He left for nails and came home with real estate.  Christmas real estate that is. 

Yes, a visit that should have cost less than three dollars has ended up costing me hundreds! I'm sure the owners of Ace Hardware in Drexel Hill are pleased! (Who knows how much it will cost me before the Vecchione 'Christmas village' is complete.) 

Holiday traditions at the Vecchione house now include Bill's Christmas village and the yearly additions of new homes, stores, churches and more.  Some purchased from Ace Hardware on State Road in Drexel Hill, some from Boscov's Department Store and yet others from Kohl's in Springfield or from EBay vendors.  All lovingly displayed along our mantelpiece, bookshelves and tabletops.

And it's not enough to just have houses.  No, we have pet stores, schools, a hardware store, cafes, a flower shop, and even a train station with it's own train.  Some move, some light up, some play music, and some even have people dancing inside! What we don't have yet is the tax assessors office and real estate taxes, but I'm sure that's only a matter of time!  We have street lights, cars, even villagers, snowmen and dogs. 

Yes Christmas real estate is here and on display, now all we have to do is buy a few new pieces this year.  I'm hoping with the tight real estate market Lemax houses will also have gone down in price--but I doubt I'll be that lucky! 


The moral of the story? Don't let go of that debit card (or credit card) over the holidays and NEVER EVER send a man to a hardware store ALONE.


What's your family Christmas tradition?