touring the tree

November was National Blog Posting Month, where you're supposed to blog every day of the month, but I didn't partake this year....  But in December there's a LOT more going on and it's much easier to find things to talk/blog about, so I guess I've started my own blog posting month in December.  I don't plan to post every day, but it's just happened that way so far, I guess.

Anyway, today we put up the Christmas tree.

Here's what Rebecca did while we put up the tree.

She was constantly in the way, so we strapped her in and fed her lots of graham crackers.  She actually did surprisingly well.

My favorite part of this exercise is reminiscing over each ornament as we pull one out of the box.  I don't like it when my husband just takes one out and puts it on the tree--I want to be the one taking each one out because I love seeing it and recalling the memories that go along with it.  Every ornament on the tree has a reason for being there, but man, we've got a LOT of ornaments!  We could easily decorate more than one tree.  My husband even asked me if I wanted to put up another tree (we still have our old tree).  I told him no--keeping Rebecca's hands off of one tree will be hard enough.  I didn't want to have to worry about keeping them off of two trees!

So here's a little tour of some of the ornaments on the tree.  I could put all of them on here and tell you the story behind each one, but that would take me all day.  So here are just a few of my favorites (I have lots of favorites, and didn't take pictures of all of them).

Here's Rachel's new ornament this year.  I don't have to tell you the story behind it....she started school this year, so that's why I picked this ornament.  I was debating between this one, a "Lost my first tooth" ornament, and a Girl Scout ornament.  She loves riding the school bus so much, so I chose this one.

This is Rebecca's ornament this year.  I already mentioned why I chose this one, because of her current obsession with e-i-e-i-o.  She loves the ornament and wants to touch it constantly, but she has actually been better than I expected, and just looks at it and moooooooos a lot.  She has touched some other ornaments, but not this one.  Yet.

Many of our ornaments are from trips we've taken.  This was new this year, from, well, you know where it's from.....

Cinderella's Castle!

This was the first one we ever bought together, on our honeymoon.

The following summer we went to Honduras on a mission trip together.  We found this in the airport right before we left to come home.  I love it (sorry, the focusing was off again...it's a nativity scene, handmade in a clay ornament).

Also that summer we went to the Canadian Rockies--GORGEOUS!!!!!  This is from Maligne Lake, where we took a beautiful boat tour while on that trip.

This is from our trip to San Fransisco, the summer before Rachel was born.

The summer Rachel was one we left her with my parents and went to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.  We stayed at the Old Faithful Inn, a beautiful lodge in the park.  This ornament is huge, but I love it (I couldn't get the camera to focus on the right part, so you can't read that it says Old Faithful Inn on the bottom).

When Rachel was two we took our first family vacation to the Outer Banks.  I love this lighthouse ornament from that trip.

We have lots of others from the other trips we've taken, but I can't show them all.

Last year I found this one and knew I had to get it for Rebecca Joy....

And Rachel's ornament last year (it says "I'm the big sister):

Several ornaments on the tree are from my childhood.  This is from my first Christmas, in 1974:

This is one my grandma made.  I love that I have it and it always makes me remember her.

And this is my very favorite from when I was a little girl.  Every year my dad helped me find just the right place to hang this angel ornament so she could swing on the branch. 

There are lots more...handprints of both girls as babies, hand made ones by Rachel, baby's first Christmas ornaments for both girls, and on an on--I love them all.  Some people have beautifully crafted trees to match the decor in their home.  They're nice, but I don't want that kind of tree.  Give me these memories over a beautiful tree any day.  No one else appreciates these like I do, but I'm thankful every year to have the chance to go down memory lane as I unpack them, reminisce, and hang them up.

So here's what Rebecca's been doing all day.....staring in delight (and touching here and there).

We'll see how it goes for the rest of the month!!!