Our Christmas Tree

This is our Christmas tree. I don’t really have a ‘style’ of decorating, so it’s more of a mish-mash of ornaments we’ve either been given or collected throughout the years. Some are over 50 years old and others are as new as this year. I love how eclectic it looks.

These are some of the ornaments that my mother-in-law gave Robin soon after he retired from the Air Force and was pretty freshly divorced. He had basically nada, and it just so happened his mom was de-cluttering so she gave him a bunch of pretty ornaments she’d had from the 1950s. Here’s a picture of some of my favorites. I love the pine cones and the Christmas trees the best. So sweet!

We also have collected an ornament for each year we’ve been married. It all started on our honeymoon when we bought a pretty star fish. It was all gold, shiny and glittery. Since then, we’ve collected a Monopoly ornament from our first anniversary trip to Atlantic City, a Harrod’s ornament from when Robin went to England for Nicole and Sam’s wedding during our third anniversary (they got married on our anniversary! Ugh!), an old fashioned ship one when we visited Baltimore for our fourth anniversary. You can see the bottom of the ship in this picture. Anyway, you get the picture. We add an ornament each year that is special to us because it represents what we’ve been through that year or where we’ve visited during our year. I love looking at them each year and remembering fondly why we got each one.

We also give the kids a new ornament each year. Maddy gets an angel, William a snowman and John a Santa ornament each year. The picture here is of one my favorite angels I got Maddy. I think I got it when I was pregnant with the boys. There’s something about it that just makes me stop and take pause.

You can also tell we have a fake tree. I have wanted a real tree since Robin and I have been married, but he won’t go for it. So…fake it is. At least it’s prelit so I don’t have to mess with lights. I just get Robin to string the garland along and I do the rest.

This year we've added this to the base of our tree:


It's the cutest little train, complete with track, coal car and caboose! The boys love to make it go round and round and round the tree. It even comes with a speed control. Sometimes they make it go very slow and sometimes they make it go very fast. It's so fun to watch them delight in the train going around the tree. Their faces just light up. I'm so thankful to my brother-in-law, Jeff, who collected all the pieces and gave it to us for Christmas last year. We put it out this year because the boys are better about not pulling things off the tree. Last year was terrible. :S

Have a Merry Christmas everyone. And to anyone who may not celebrate Christmas, may you have a wonderful Holiday Season!