Our 2013 tree for this year.
We have slowly switched ornaments over the years of being married. And I try and do different things, like ribbon, garland, beads, berries or whatever to make it different. And we've always purchased 1 new ornament for the year and I write the year on it. If I have a baby that year, it's one for them. We've done coordinating colors or themes, but this time I guess it's balls, all kinds of colors. And certainly the plastic non breakable kind. Boy I tell ya, we've lost many over the years. Jax and Creed had a hay day cleaning the tree off and crashing them on the tile floor just for fun when Creed was a toddler. Fun times. What were people thinking? I'm all about the shatter proof.
In no particular order...
I always decorate our kitchen table chandelier. But it's silly because it's totally not centered over the table. You have to be careful not to hit your head. We've tried relocating it, but there are no joists in the ceiling to anchor it to the better location. I try and switch up the hanging ornaments for different years. And the wreath on the door is one I made several years ago. And I have to hot glue a ball ornament back on every time we get it out of storage. Except this year! Yeah!
The string of Santa/Star lights are from my Grandma Jensen's x-mas tree that I got from my mom. Greg strings them over the TV. And the Christmas "moose" is a present from Greg's mom. When it has batteries it laughs and talks and sings really loud and scared our kids to death. I never wanted to hang it up (sorry LeeAnn), but Greg thought it would be fun and now we do it because it's a tradition I guess. This might be the last year it makes it out of the box. ;) And the reindeer magnets for the fridge. Our boys love it. And anyone that comes over likes to play with it. They love to rearrange it, spell things, change the eyes, etc. I like that it's something any of my kids can help get out and put up.
The 2 versions of Santa Clause. I love the Russian Santa my mom gave Greg years ago. He served his mission there so it's neat to display from other parts of the world. And the Jolly Santa my sis-in-law Alecia painted and gave us as a gift one year. She chose this one because it had ski's and Greg is a skier. Well and now we all are or will be skiers. It's perfect.
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And way on top of our book shelves Greg puts a Cookie Jar Santa and a porcelain white lit up tree that we also got from my Grandma Jensen's décor after she passed away. Oh yeah, and all the retro old plastic greenery, holly berries, n'stuff from my grandma as well. Cheesy, but it's up high so nobody sees it really? I tell myself.
Everyone has to have a train going around their tree right? We have the track out every year. But with little babies and toddlers it would only come out for parts of an evening once in a while. This year I think it might make it the whole season. We'll see if Rafe can keep his paws off it. He LOVES trains though, so I doubt he can contain himself. It's kind of a pain to always be putting it back on the tracks. Luckily Jax and Creed can manage that too and help.
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And every year I say I want to buy a nice nativity. And I never do. We got this wood set one year and put it up in front of the TV. The kids can play with it. And I'm laughing as I type this because for some reason, EVERY YEAR we manage to forget about it and it doesn't make it into the X-mas storage boxes after x-mas. So we stick it in a grocery sack and put it in our pantry so that the next time Greg does out to the shed, he can put it away. Then it sits ALL year. And the next December we know right where it is and pull it out from the pantry again.
Oooh, now for ornaments. Or as Jax's calls them, Ordaments. I'm pretty sure when I was little I did too. This year my favorite ornament is this metal glittery Santa. It was our yearly ornament from last year. I love the colors. A hot pink nose and skates, pretty lime green and red, it's fun. I didn't ask Greg his favorite but I'm going to say it's this white/silver Russian (Orthodox church building) that my mom also gave to Greg years ago. It is breakable, so we are careful with it and don't let the kids near it. Tucked away in the higher part of the tree.
Jax's favorite ornament is his broken metal Reindeer. I have a set of metal/silver ornaments. I got them before I was married. They are heavy so they are always at the bottom of the tree. When Jax was 2 he was playing with this one and it fell and hit the tile and one side of the antlers broke off. We've told him the story and how he'd carry it around with him and so he loves it now. He calls it his. And always has a special place to hang it up.
I over heard the boys talking about their favorite ornaments, and Creed said this was his favorite one. (this year). It's old, I don't know where I got it? Maybe my mom's old stash, or my grandmas? It's just a tinsel one. And then I asked Bodie what his favorite was and he said the he likes the one Creed likes. That's his favorite right now too.
I asked Rafe, he stared pointing to different ball ornaments. He kept coming back to a small green one. But for the picture I chose to show the ONE that Rafe saw, got so excited about an M&M and he put it up all by himself. He touches it everyday. So I'm saying it's really his favorite.
These last few I just wanted to mention. The boys love the movie Rudolph. I suppose all kids do. I love all the classic x-mas movies that have lasted generation after generation. I got the Abominable Snowman figure from the movie several years ago. The boys were so excited. But it's breakable. And they fight over who gets to hang it up. So it's one I stick up high and don't let them touch it now. We've already glued it once.
And then the green little light bulb ornament, well I have a bunch of these. And without fail, when we get the stuff out and open up the tree to decorate, we always find one forgotten ornament from the previous year. And it's ALWAYS one of these small lights.
I couldn't forget about our Savior. It's Olive tree wood. And I got it from somewhere, again either my mom or grandma's stuff. And sometimes I'll hang dangling stuff around our tree. I got out the shimmery snowflakes again. They go with our Snowflake tree topper.
I forgot to get a picture of the miniature trees we have in each of the boys rooms. The love them. Jax especially loves all the light it gives off as he's falling asleep.
So we are ready, let the holidays begin! But first we celebrate Thanksgiving!
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