Thy leaves are so unchanging...

OKAY, so I know the reason my Christmas trees' leaves are unchanging is because they're fake, but Dawn already used the title "Oh, Christmas tree", so I had to use a different line from the song! So sue me! :)



I'm a little behind on posting these. I actually finished decorating the tree Sunday afternoon.

Here is the finished tree: I really wanted to rearrange the furniture and put the tree in front of the window so that you could see the lights from outside, (because we probably won't be putting any lights on the outside of the house), but we figured with little ones around, it's probably better to have the tree tucked away in the corner. Less of a temptation that way. :)

I had a really good time pulling all the ornaments out. We've been married long enough now that each ornament brings back a special memory. I remember as a kid, when I'd help one of my grandmothers with their tree, they always liked to tell stories about where each ornament came from, how old it was, what made it special, etc. It was a little boring to me at the time, but I always listened and showed interest anyway. Now I understand why they wanted to tell me those stories. And now I'm going to bore you to tears and tell you about some of the special ornaments on our tree. (I could've done this for ALL the ornaments, but I know you don't have all night, so I just picked a few.)

Ben's mom gave us a big bag of ornaments from Ben's childhood. She wrote the year they were bought/made on all the ornaments. I think she cross-stitched this one herself:

I bought this one when we were on our honeymoon at Disney World:





This is one of Izzy's "baby's first Christmas" ornaments. (Sorry it's a little blurry.)

This "our first Christmas" ornament was made by a very special person. Her name was Glenna. She was our church secretary growing up for as long as I can remember. She took me "under her wing" while Ben was in Korea during our first year of marriage, and did so much for me. Unfortunately, she died of cancer last year. I never got to tell her how much she meant to me, so maybe she'll be able to read my blog from heaven, and know.

I made this one when I was a kid:

This is the "joy" ornament that "mama" Jan gave Izzy last year.

My mom is one of those people who likes to do themed trees. (I am not, but I love her for always making Christmas special.) When we were little, the "theme" was plaid stuffed animals (or something like that). Anyway, I got like four or five of them to hang on my tree, and I love them because they remind me of my childhood. Izzy really likes these ornaments, too.

Last year I used a big plaid bow as a topper, but I wasn't feeling it this year. (I thought it would be too many different plaids going on in the same room.) I was planning to go out and buy a new topper, but then Ben came up with the brilliant idea of using Izzy's baby Santa hat from last year, and I LOVE IT.

The other night Isabelle and I were downstairs in the family room waiting for Daddy to come home from class. I was sitting on the couch, and she comes over and gets a pillow and lays it on the floor. Then she comes back and gets a blanket and lays that out on the floor too. Then she lays down on her belly and closes her eyes, "pretending" to go to sleep. It was too cute! I just had to snap a picture:






Anyway, thanks for visiting "Christmas Past" with me. Hope you all get to make some special memories THIS year.