O Christmas Tree (Times Three)

Yes, I put up three trees. We put up our "sentimental," "this is our life" tree first every year. It sits in our dining room window on the front of our house. On it hangs our children's childhood ornaments and family ornaments. The first two are the oldest on the tree. As a teenager, I collected unicorns and my mother gave me this ball around 1980. You can see the cracks in it. In 1984 I had a baby girl and my cousin Tammy, who is Mallory's godmother, gave her this gold one.

The next three ornaments chronicle mine and Larry's first three married Christmases. We married in 1990, got pregnant in 1991, and had Shelbi 3 days after our second anniversary in 1992. Busy, busy years. =)

Shelbi's first ornament. The little heart behind it came from a dear friend in 1983, who has since gone to Glory.

I love the next one on the left because it represents our first year as grandparents and our newest grandson's (Leon) first Christmas ornament in on the right.

Then there are those that captured our fun memories, like Sarah's princess one from our Disney World vacation in 2004. And the famous lamp from Larry's favorite Christmas movie.

Shelbi's got tons of sports ornaments from years of summer softball and basketball. The second one I gave her the year she started texting like crazy. It actually is a symbol of her overcoming selective mutism, too. She started texting friends that she wanted to talk to and worked her way up to verbal communication. This year Shelbi is a Senior, so I was tickled to find a little graduating snowman. His robe even matches Shelbi's school colors. =)

Finished product. I love my gingerbread tree skirt.

Just threw a picture of my Willow Tree nativity scene in because it's also in the dining room. I leave it up year round just because I love it.

I put this wreath together for my dining room/kitchen archway. I love gingerbread decorations.

When we bought our house nine years ago, I did the living room in moss green, cream, and mauve. That's when we started doing two trees. All of my traditional ornaments really clashed, so I bought a lot of Victorian style ornaments in my color scheme and added some gold. I LOVE this tree, even though I threaten every year not to put it up. It takes forever to do the lights and get it decorated. This year, I skipped the balls.

These are a few of my favorite ornaments.

This frame holds copies of mine and Larry's baby pics. I absolutely adore it!

Lots of crosses. I love the nativity scene etched into the one on the right.

This picture is of my Nannie and Poppa when they first got married. It was taken in 1937 (scanned copy, also). The pram on the right is typical of most of the other ornaments.

The one on the left is special because my Aunt Nancy got it for me. It was handmade and she bought it at a yard sale. I loved the fact that she thought about me, but also love the way the beads sparkle in the lights on the tree. I think it looks like a miniature chandelier. And the tree at night! Yes, I like lots of lights. :) I do have a pretty tree skirt, but forgot to put it on before I took these pictures and I am too lazy to take another picture, download it off the camera, and put it on the blog. ;)

Of course, every teacher also has to decorate their class, too. This tree is so special because it contains ornaments my students gave me since my first year, like the Santa on the left from Tre in 2001 and the right is from Skylar in 2007. =)

Bradford gave me this apple one last Christmas and I bought the one on the right a couple of years ago because it sums up what teaching means to me.

Usually, my class trees have been big and covered with student made ornaments, but because of the number of children and lack of space I downsized and now just have my little "teacher tree." They're taking their ornaments home for their trees.

This concludes my tour of trees. Soon I'll be posting pictures of grandchildren ripping open their gifts. =) Merry Christmas!