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2016 Home For the Holidays
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS November 23, 2016
The boys, Cole (22), Brett (19), Brandon
(19), Seth (16) and Drew (11), might be
older, but they still accommodate their
mom’s wishes for an annual Christmas
card picture, too.
Rentmeister, who is a preschool aide at
Zion Lutheran School in Mount Pulaski,
has also kept all the kid’s ornaments
throughout the years and those are still
displayed every year on a tree that sits
in the family room. She calls this tree
the “hodgepodge tree.” It is decorated
with those handmade ornaments the boys
made at school, their baby ornaments and
any ornaments they may have given to
their mom over the years.
Rentmeister usually starts decorating in
early November because she says, “It has
to be done before Thanksgiving. I have
Thanksgiving here. I like to have it done
before then so we can all enjoy it.”
That means decorating every bedroom,
the upstairs master bathroom, the family
room, the dining room, the kitchen
and even the finished basement with
Christmas trees.
Rentmeister also hosts Christmas now.
She nods to a sign in her kitchen that
reads, “Christmas is not in the presents,
but in His presence.” “That says it the
best, right up there,” she says.
“Jesus’ birth is what started everything
and without that, none of our sins would
be forgiven. He would not have died on
the cross. So it’s like a light, and that’s
why I like all the lights. That’s what I
think about in my head. His birth was
like a light,” she said.
Rentmeister is also a fan of Thomas
Kinkade, the man known as the “Painter
The Christmas tree in Jo’s family room is decorated with
handmade ornaments her children made through the
years and ornaments they have given her over the years.
of light.” A new addition this year to her home is the
Thomas Kinkade Christmas portrait titled “Village
Christmas.”
Her mom gave her the portrait as an early Christmas gift
and Rentmeister was obviously delighted.
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