12.09.2007

Oh, (my, oh, my, ) Christmas Tree!

So, here's how some of my first week of December went...

First, we drove up into Steve's sister's husband's grandpa's "ranch"...and by ranch, I mean, a bunch of land somewhere over there.






























Then we had to hunt for a good tree.










We (the girls) didn't have snow boots at this point, so I came up with a brilliant and innovative solution--grocery bags!
(This is my sis-n-law, Danielle, sporting the newest fashion in snow-foot gear.)
We tied them around our ankles. They actually worked really well at keeping the snow out. Although, the traction was lacking BIG time. I biffed it a couple times. It's so hard to look cool while you're falling and you have no control over your body. I just pretended like it was my intention to fall on my butt with a stupid and horrified look on my face.

Anyway. I'm going to make the rest of this long, butt freezing, toe numbing story short...We found a tree and chopped it down.











Fast forward a couple days...decking the halls...

I'm convinced that decorating a Christmas tree was never intended for people like me. I don't think any ornament stayed in the first place I put it. I just can't leave it alone. "Good enough? Really? There's such a thing?" Even when I'm exercising in the living room--out of the corner of my eye, I'll see an ornament that just isn't right. Driving myself crazy.













































I decorated a little more. (Heather made me the "sign"...I LOVE it!!!!)





















This little music box (plays Jingle Bells) has dust on it that's older than me. My grandma gave it to me last year. I love it. It reminds me of being at her house when I was little.










These are some of my favorite ornaments...











This is one my mom made YEARS ago--the chunky bald thing is me as a baby. It's one of the three I have from my childhood that managed to make it out alive!












I've loved the Noah's Ark story ever since I was 19 and found a greater spiritual meaning in the story. Steve bought this Hallmark ornament for me the first Christmas we were married. It opens up and you can see all the animals. ( I have other Ark ornaments, but this is my favorite.)











My grandpa died last year in December--the week after we visited Arizona. He LOVED planes. His living room ceiling had hundreds of different model planes he had made hanging down--all sizes. It was pretty cool. So last year, I didn't have to think twice about what I wanted my ornament to be.











I love this one cuz it makes me think of Lily and her daddy.











This is one of my favorites cuz it's the one I bought for Steve the first year we were married. It just made me think of him. Plus, how cute it that! A little bear with moose antlers!

These next three marshmallow smore people are my favorite yearly-individual ornaments that we've gotten. We got them the year Lily was born.

This lumberjack mallow is obviously Steve's...








...this is mine...










...and this is Lily's.









So. Three weeks left to enjoy the atmosphere of a cozy living room...Christmas lights on a good smellin' tree...and all the Christmas movies possible.

The first full week of December is over...here, it ended with a good fluffy snowfall.



14 comments:

  1. That is fantastic! Don't you love the new ornament tradition?? I had never heard of it until Brent and I met... last year I got him a Smore's guy that had binoculars and a book for bird watching. We haven't gotten ours for this year, we are getting them at Gardner's Village when we get to Utah. Your tree is so pretty!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. amy your tree is BEAUTIFUL! so far all we have is our artificial 3 footer. i know troy wants a real one this year....and i do love them too but i am too nervous with samantha being so small...she will try to eat the needles, play in the water and tug on the ornaments and i fear the tree could fall right on her! if she did all that with a fake tree...it would be messy, but WAY less tragic! *sigh* we are still looking for a tree we like too....we saw one we like at walmart...for $167 up in page but when we got back home they didn't have one of those ones :( . we'll have to try our other walmart and if there is none there...we are SUNK! the funny thing is...that one was labled "prescott pine" we got a good kick out of it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've always loved the ornament thing. My aunt used to make each one of her neices and nephews and our parents their own ornaments every year. (And we're talking a TON!) So she inspired me to at least keep it up with my family.

    I love Gardner Village! No doubt you'll be going to the Village Christmas Shop. They've gotten even better than they used to be. You also need to stop at the candy store--it's now in the store the quilts used to be in.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't think it matters how big or small your tree is or what it looks like...as long as you make it look happy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's so cool that you got to chop down a tree! I've never had that experience before :) I bet your house smells so yummy. We borrowed a 5 foot fake one, perfect size our little apartment. We made a bunch of those applesauce cinnamon ornaments. They are so easy and cute and make the house smell good.

    ReplyDelete
  6. hahahaha! heather that is actually funny that you mentioned that. seeing as how i have some cinnamon apple dough in the fridge for tonight when we will roll it out and cut out our ornaments for this year;s 'special ornaments' i actually still have some dough under my nails (shoulda used gloves)i need to get it out...LOL but it smells GOOOOD!

    ReplyDelete
  7. heather are yours dry? if so, how long did they take?? there were so many recipies (basically all the same) but the drying time REALLY varried! from 2 days to a whole WEEK!

    anyway, just curious!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Amy your house is beautiful!! I love your tree, & someday I will steal someone else's husband and go cut down one of my own too! I packed up all of our christmas stuff last year because I thought we were moving and still cant find our stockings! :P Oh well. it will be a stockingless christmas here this year. Heather's signs are great! I like how steve is all curled up on the couch! I wish it were snowing here, it looks like so much fun! & I wouldnt even mind falling on my butt a few times!

    ReplyDelete
  9. The ornaments I made seriously took 3 days to dry out completely. I kept flipping them over and that helped.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What are these cinnamon apple ornaments you girls are talking about? Am I the only one that's never heard of them? They sound like something I'd like--apples and cinnamon are one of my favorite smells.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You should! Luke would love it! We have a pre-wedding dinner to go to at 6:30 in Pleasant Grove, and then we're going to head to W.J. to get Dad...he has free parking downtown! You could just meet us at Dad's. We're thinking the dinner won't be too long...and if it, we can leave early. But hopefully, we'll be able to start heading to Temple Square at 8ish. You should be up by then :)

    We'll talk.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yay for pretty trees!!! It is gorgeous and I love the marshmallow ornaments!!! You should find me one hee hee :) I am glad you like your sign... it does look so cute with the stars on either side!! I am happy you took a pic for all to see ( esp me )

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well I love it. I just got the itty bitty words for my ornaments. They work perfectly!

    ReplyDelete

If you can't say something nice, say it behind my back.