O' Christmas Tree

We finally got our Christmas tree up!!

{There is NO WAY a real tree could hold some of these ornaments!}

The wonders of a Christmas tree!!!

When all the lights are turned off, there is nothing prettier than the glow from a Christmas tree. So after all that hard work, Boogie and I decided to play underneath it.

I absolutely love putting up a Christmas tree, always have, and normally ours is up right away but it wasn't at the top of the list year.

When we were kids, putting up the tree was a fun, all night event. It was an evening filled with hot chocolate, Christmas music, snacky foods that we didn't normally get, being silly, adding to our family "Christmas chain" and of course decorating the tree.

We had a tradition in our family where we would take tinfoil, which was cut into squares by my mom, and we would roll or twist really them tight to form it into a link. I don't remember how many links we each would make every year, but it seemed like a lot (everything seems like "a lot" or "bigger" or "longer" when your a kid though), but each link we made was then attached to the chain from the previous years. Our chain was unique, incredibly long and wrapped around our tree easily! It was simple, looked really pretty as it reflected the lights on the tree and was a fun idea for all of us to do together as a family. The days that followed our chain-making endeavor were filled with comparing who's fingers hurt the worst because we would almost get blisters from trying to roll the foil super tight!

Recently, my parents decided to break the chain apart and divide it amongst us kids to continue the tradition.

My mom and dad use to have each of us (there were 5 of us kids) sit on the couch and take turns picking an ornament and then hang it wherever we wanted. I think they were trying to teach us patience. I don't know whether it was the fact that I was the youngest, or wanted to hang them all myself (I'm thinking it was both! Ha!), but it was a challenge to watch each sibling pick an ornament, decide where they wanted it (you had to pick the "perfect spot") and then hang it. I remember on the inside I was always thinking "Don't pick that one, don't pick that one ... I want to hang that one!!" Funny the things you remember and now it brings such a big smile to my face.

Below is a picture of our house back on Matthew Road when we lived in Flordia. I was at the age where I remember this house so clearly and all the memories that were made with my family. 

***Sigh***

I really loved living there!

Also, here is a picture of the BEST Christmas year that I can remember as a kid. All five of us kids got race cars and we were beyond stoked. In fact, my sister Cindy and I were having so much fun with our race cars, that my mom thought they were too "boyish" and made us exchange them from some creepy 4ft dolls that we thought would turn into Chucky when we closed our eyes!

My husband and I are not doing my family's "chain tradition" but we do have our own tradition of getting one ornament every year that signifies something special or important that occurred that year. We have been doing this since our first year of marriage back in 2005. We now have eight ornaments that each hold a special meaning, and this year, our ornament is extra special to us.

Here are our ornaments from 2005-2008.

{2005 - for our 1st year of marriage; 2006 - a simple picture of us crazy in love; 2007 - a Blackhawk to represent Justin's year tour in Iraq; 2008 - a Christmas nurse to represent me graduating from nursing school ... the nurse is round for those extra "lbs" I put on!}

 

Here are our ornaments from 2009-2011.

{2009 - for when we found out our ego was prego; 2010 - we had two contenders: Boogies picture in a "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament ... it was a cow because Justin's granddad raises cattle ... & the "3 Snowketeers";  2011 - a picture of all of us 3 together from when Justin was home on R&R from touring in Kuwait}

 

And our ornament for 2012??

 

Boogie's reindeer with Christmas lights!!!!! I love her sweet, little hand and finger prints. Of course I love it!!! Her hand will never be this size again! Something to be treasured for sure!!!!!!

 

Did this not turn out the cutest?

 

We even used puff paint to give the reindeer some texture. I love everything about it ... except ... they are EXTREMELY fragile. :s

 

I treasure the memories my hubby and daughter make together -- nothing is better!