My Christmas Tree

Last night I came home from choir rehearsal to a quiet house. Dh was asleep on the sofa and the kids were nowhere to be seen. Heard, eventually, but not seen. They were all down in the basement cuddled around the warmth of a laptop or making silly videos.

When we summoned them for evening prayers---our Jesse tree reading and the Christmas Novena---I discovered there were six of them! All six of them! I hadn't seen all 6 of them at once since Thanksgiving! Our tree decorating was tentatively scheduled for tonight, but the boys pointed out that The School had scheduled Vespers and they wouldn't be home until late. So, we had an impromptu tree decorating party last night.

We didn't drag out all the boxes of ornaments, just two. And I picked which ones to put on the tree.

We have so many ornaments it is insane. The children each have a box of their own because they get one from St. Nicholas every year. Plus they collect them from other sources occasionally. KT, girl that she is, likes to buy a couple that she loves every year. I didn't even consider getting their boxes out. It just makes packing up after Christmas a big nightmare!

I'm not sure how we acquired so many. I think it is because I love Christmas and I bought a few every year at the clearance sales. That, and I like to have a different theme every year. Sometimes it's gold---like this year---big gold ribbons and the nicer ornaments. Sometimes it's country with red, cranberry-style garland and more rustic ornaments. Sometimes it's white with pearl garland and predominantly white ornaments. Usually the lights are all white, but sometimes we go crazy and use colored lights, all the ornaments, and no garland.

If my house were larger, I would definitely have more trees. Or if I could afford the trees. I could put a small one in the upstairs hall and one in the basement. That way I could have more than one theme going every year!

I inherited the Nativity-collecting gene from my dad. I must have gotten the multiple-tree gene from him too. He has a small, but sprawling ranch house---basically, 2 bedrooms, den, living room, dining room, kitchen, and 10 trees. All different themes.

Anyway, I wanted to show you some of my favorite ornaments.

When we first got married and had nothing, not even money, we bought a few white tin ornaments. I love their lacy look and my mom taught me to love white things! But at $10 - $15 each, it took a few years to get as many as we have, and there's no picture because they didn't make it to the tree this year!

When KT was a baby and for a couple of years after that, we decorated the tree with those white ornaments, big bows with streamers made of crepe paper from the craft store. The kind you had to unwind with a power drill. And popcorn balls wrapped in cellophane and tied with silver ribbon. I got the idea from Martha Stewart, and I loved that tree!


We like to collect ornaments as a vacation souvenir now. We try to get the pretty gold ones, but not everyone has that style.

I love my Georgia Peach!

These two "Snow babies" commemorate the birth of TMax born during the Blizzard of '96 without the assistance of a midwife.
I painted ornaments like these when I was growing up (did you????) and I didn't know what happened to them. I found a collection of them at Goodwill one day and I snatched them up because they were nicely painted and reminded me of my childhood. I believe some of these are our old ones that Mom gave me before she died. She gave me so many things when I visited---things I discovered I didn't want if it meant that she was dying--- so I don't remember clearly.

Dh gave me this handpainted Russian pair that I love. They always have to hang next to each other on the tree.

I'm also loving this White House ornament that Mil and Fil gave us last year. It's beautiful and it's in the same style as our Mount Vernon ornament that we picked up a couple years ago.


As an aside, sometimes everything comes back to Mom. She's on our minds a lot right now. I can't look at that Mt. Vernon ornament (way up at the top w/ the other souvenirs) without remembering that I was walking around the grounds when my sister called to discuss what was wrong with Mom, whether she had had a stroke and which Dr. she needed to see. She also loved Christmas. What faithful Christian doesn't? And she could decorate a house like nobody's business. When she was dirt poor (hmm, most of her life!) she always had some incredibly gorgeous, unique and inexpensive decorative scheme. I wish I had her talent!

This ornament was given to us last year by one of Mom's good friends in Oklahoma. She had one made for each of us kids. It says:

Merry Christmas from Heaven!

I love you all dearly,
Now don't shed a tear,
I'm spending my Christmas
With Jesus this year.

It's engraved with her name and the dates of her birth and death on the back.

My tree is filled with the memories of past Christmases and the blessings that Jesus has given us. I hope yours is, too!

Tell me what's on your tree and why you love it!



Have a blessed week!