Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Ghosts of Christmas Past

It is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... around our house anyway. This last weekend we decorated for the season, pulling out our favorite ornaments and illuminating our home with white twinkle lights. This year my daughter is starting to "get" Christmas and was so excited to get a tree she could hardly contain herself. She kept shouting "This is going to be the BEST Christmas EVER!"

We went to our favorite nursery to get our tree this year. Sure it is cheaper to buy a $5 permit to tromp out into the woods to find a tree, but as I have been sick with a sore throat and Fibromyalgia - and we have two kids with very short attention spans - it made more sense to go to a local place. Besides, it is tradition to get our photo taken by the nursery owner, in front of an inflatable Grinch!

Here are some photos of that tradition:

2008: Horizon Nursery

Our daughter is 4 1/2 years old and our son is 20 months old.

2007: Horizon Nursery

Our daughter was 3 1/2 and our son was only 8 months old - our son's first Christmas!

2005: Horizon Nursery

Our daughter was 19 months old.

2004: Horizon Nursery

Our daughter was 7 months old - her first Christmas!

Wow, I change my hair a lot! I don't have a photo for 2006, we went somewhere else that year and I was miserably pregnant with my son so unfortunately we didn't get a shot of our tree hunting.

This year we got a 10 foot noble fir. It is tall and skinny and it hold all of the ornaments we have collected over the years. I am always looking for fun ornaments to add every year, but my favorite will always be one from my childhood.


I know, it seems silly that I would like a bell with Cookie Monster on it so much. But I am sentimental and this goes way back to when I was very little girl. I always wrap it with extra special care and put it high up on the tree. I would be a bit devastated if anything happened to it.

And while there are many finer and more expensive Christmas decorations out there, I tend to cherish the Nativity scene I bought back in 2001. It was my third Christmas with my husband and we didn't have very much money. I went to Rite Aid and found THE most hideous Nativity scene imaginable. The skin tones were painted in bright orange and the cloaks on the people were in day glow colors. But, it was 50% off of $12.99. I couldn't resist that price! So I brought it home and repainted all of the figurines. Now my daughter plays with them as if they were dolls and it is fun to see her enjoying the set many years later.

Our cheap, but if I may say elegant looking, Nativity scene.


What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

2 comments:

Karen said...

I'm super impressed with the nativity set! You should have your own show on TLC!

PeePaw said...

Mmmm: Me want'um Cookie!!

I remember that ornament!