My Tree Philosophy

We started putting up our Christmas tree on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I finally finished putting the ornaments on this past weekend. I kept running into projects that had to be done! Our Christmas tree is one of my very favorite things. If I could only put up one thing for Christmas, it would definitely be my tree.

I don't believe in theme trees. Okay, okay, they're fine for other people and for "extra" trees, but my main tree is not and never will be a theme tree. Instead, my tree is a mad mass of ornaments made of a variety of materials with a variety of subject matter collected over the past 32 years. Some of them are downright ugly, but they each have a place on my tree.

My mom started a tradition with my siblings and me. Each year she bought us a special ornament for the tree. Each of those ornaments went into our own box, along with the various other ornaments we made or received. The idea was that when we left the house, we would take our ornaments with us and be able to decorate our own tree.

It's a fabulous tradition. My nine-foot tall artificial tree is covered in ornaments and each one is special. I love to look at them again each year. And let me tell you, it's not always the prettiest or most expensive ornament that brings back the most meaningful memory. There are a couple of very inexpensive, even cheap, ornaments on that tree that remind me that even when money was tight, my parents always did their best to make Christmas exciting and special.

I've continued the tradition with Lil' Kay. This year's ornament was an octopus. Lil' Kay is very into sharks, sea life and dinosaurs. We picked it out on Etsy, and it is an amazing ornament! I've tried to get him ornaments that match whatever his latest passion is. He has dolphin, Bob the Builder, dinosaur and airplane ornaments. Plus, I've saved the ornaments he made in daycare the last couple of years and the plastic ones he's painted at home. They are such a great way to see how he has progressed in his artistic abilities.

The other thing I accomplished this weekend, decoration-wise, was to get out my snowman collection. (It's not as big as I remembered...) There are also a few Santas and a moose mixed in, but you get the idea. I love find snowmen made out of different materials and in different poses. The little guy on the bottom left of the photo is one of my favorites, because it looks like he's walking down the street! I also adore the one on the left side of the red box. He has his arms wrapped around himself trying to stay warm! And, yes, that is a picture of a great white shark. Lil' Kay was "helping" with the decorating...