::the tree::

We love our fabulous tree from the forest. It's huge.
Luckily we have a large front room with a high ceiling, otherwise there's no way it would've fit and we would have all cried.
But happily it fits, though we did have to trim the back branches a touch and take part of the very top off. I think it's about 10 feet tall now, and the bottom branches probably stretch about six feet. It's definitely the biggest tree we've ever had.
You know what's weird about it though? Unless your nose is basically stuck inside the branches, it just doesn't smell that piney. I've hardly smelled it in the house at all. But oh well, that's what Christmassy smelling candles are for, right?

Last sunday I put the lights on, once Kris's mom was in town to visit and could hold the baby. The poor tree had sat bare in the living room for four or five days, just begging for lights. But I could only do so much. It was great to have two free hands for a bit, though the hands missed the snuggly baby.
Here the tree is, all lit up.

I wish I could give you an idea of the scale, but you'll just have to imagine it. Well maybe this will help. Kris had to do the top lights for me, and he had to get a ladder to do it!

And of course he had to reenact putting the star on top so we could document it for posterity.

He's pretty cute!

So sunday afternoon we got out the ornaments and decorated the tree. First thing Max did was get out a glass ball and hang it on the tree. It directly slipped right off and shattered on the bricks. I decided at that point we'd go 95% non-breakable as far as ornaments. So we're missing some of our favorites this year, but that's ok. It gives some of the others a chance to shine.

Max likes to hang things in big clumps. I'd give him a few to hang, then look up and see them all bunched up on one branch. So after he hung stuff I had to go back through and redistribute. But he was very insistent that the Mama Fish ornament hang as close as possible to the trombone ornament, so she could play it whenever she wanted.

And the best part? Now we get to hang out by the light of the tree whenever we want. I love Christmas trees, especially busy ones with colored lights like ours. They're just so fun to look at, there's always something new to see. Sandy loves to stare at it too.

When he's not sleeping that is.

::ornament wrap up::

So to wrap up our ornament posts I'm going to show you the rest of the photos I took--for potential blog posts.
Turns out it's basically a timeline of my mom's adorable little molded creations.
So these two here--the camel and the flying heart are both vintage. They're from the early eighties, probably around 83 or so. I'm guessing the camel was made at about the same time as the little me.


They're both salt dough and I love them.
Next my mom moved to using clay. At some point anyway, I'm not sure what that point was.
I remember her working on little things--using a garlic press to make hay and hair for hobby horses. It was so fascinating to watch.

Isn't this the sweetest baby Jesus you've ever seen? He's tiny too--the length of the little manger isn't more than about an inch.

The little guys keep getting more sophisticated, like this raccoon holding an ornament:

I think I got to choose which animal I wanted and she made it for me. Yes, my mom is amazing. I love the texture in his fur. So detailed.

This jumping sheep was made pretty recently. I'm not sure what year though. The quilt he's wearing is beautiful, and I just love the little star. You can also see half of a stained glass star with a little sheep in the middle in this photo too. It's nice to be reminded of the Good Shepherd.
And to finish off, here's the Mama Fish.

I think I've posted about her before, but she's just so fabulous I can't resist. My mom made her for Max a couple of years ago--I think it was the last christmas we've been able to spend in UT. Max was so excited when he saw it. He's almost the age now where I can actually let him touch her. He likes to kiss her. You can see in the photo that he placed a pinecone and tree right next to her to keep her company.
We love the mama fish ornament. What a treasure.
Like my mom, a treasure.
Love you mom!

::ornament 7::

Here's another mom ornament!
This is one of the earliest I remember her making. I remember there was a whole flock of these little guys by the time she got done.

Isn't he adorable?
He reminds me of a song she wrote for her christmas pagent. "We like sheep so far from home, wandering in the world alone, when the night comes still we roam, waiting for our shepherd to lead us home."
I'm racking my brains to remember the next verse and I'm only getting about half of it. Somebody's going to have to comment and remind me!

::ornament 6::

This is one of my favorite guys my mom has made (there are so many favorites though...).

He's a little porcupine that walked through a holly bush.
He makes me happy.

::ornament 5::

Every year since Max was born I've made a little ornament with his picture in it. OK, so that's an exaggeration. I haven't MADE them every year. Usually I just end up buying a little frame type ornament and sticking his picture in. But I do assemble them. And I do always have plans to make one, it just doesn't usually work out.
But I did make the ones for 2004 & 2007:

The 2004 one was a little wood frame that I got at the craft store and painted. The one from last year I actually made this year (trying to play catch up--that's what happens when you paint yourself into the corner of a "tradition"). It's a bottle cap (It's from some Steven's orange soda that we had for Thanksgiving that year). I cut his little photo and stuck it in there, and then I poured a bunch of mod podge on top of it. It took days, but it ended up drying clear with a little shiny finish to it. I like it.

I've given the same ornament to each of Max's grandparent's every year too. They're always very grateful and it makes me happy. Give us a couple more years and the theme of our tree will just be Max.

::ornament 3::

Alright, so this one is ornament(s). And these are some of the few ornaments on my tree that haven't been made by a member of my family.

I got these two little guys on my trip to Russia and Siberia in the summer of 1998. I went with BYU's jazz band Synthesis and it was quite the experience for me. My first international experience and definitely my first experience anywhere that wasn't a first world country. I learned a lot on that trip. We were usually very uncomfortable (complete lack of air conditioning everywhere), thirsty (no clean water), sick from the greasy food and none of us could understand and thing anybody said. But we did meet some interesting and wonderful people, and got to help strengthen the church out there. It was an experience not to be missed.
And I don't think these little minarets were supposed to be christmas ornaments, but that was the first thing I thought of when I saw them. And I think they're perfect.

::ornament 2::

The ornament for today is an old favorite. My mom is going to have to comment and tell me what year she made it.

It's me! It's me at about age 3 I think, wearing my "dancing dress" which was a dress my mom made me around that time. I loved dresses and dancing and hated wearing pants.
Isn't the little me adorable? It reminds me so much of my mom and my whole family when I was little. I love it!
What would my tree be without my mom, honestly?

::ornament 1::

Kris had a bright idea for me. He thought it would be fun to have a little feature of one Christmas tree ornament a day until the day itself.
So the first:

My Grandad made this for me. It's wonderful. I don't know how long ago it was that he made it, but I seem to remember having it forever. He made one for each of us kids (at least I think everybody has one.) My mom has one as well and it really confuses Max because her dad likes to call her Kris, so that's what her ornament says. Max thinks that one belongs on our tree rather than hers.
What it comes down to is that I just love the shape of the letters and how the whole thing makes me think of my marvelous woodworking Grandad. And it always will.

::the tree--a retrospective::

Because of the wonderful new piano, we had to take down the tree earlier than usual. I normally like to leave it out until at least new years, so I can get really depressed putting it away by myself when Kris is back at work. But we wanted to move a bookshelf and the tiny TV to where the tree was so that the piano could take a place of honor in the living room. So two days after christmas the tree came down. And it was kind of sad, since we really didn't get to enjoy it as long as usual because of being gone so much of December for our vacation. But it was kind of nice to get it put away and not have to worry about it. And Kris was home, so I got some help.

A few words about the tree. It is fake. And when I was younger I swore I would never have a fake tree. Then my mom got me one after Kris and I got married. We've used it every year since we left UT. Seems like since that time we've always spent some of december out of town. It's pointless to get a live tree and then leave town and let it die. It's also probably a fire hazard I'm guessing. So my mom did the right thing. It's been nice to have the tree. And although I hope we can get a real tree next year, this good old guy will probably be coming up from the basement again.

So.  Anyway.  If I had to define a theme for my tree it would be hard. But I'd say the main theme would be Kristen ornaments (as in my mom). Most of the ornaments, and most of my favorites have been made by her at some time during my life.
The sub theme would be animals, and below that would be birds, then fish. We have lots of birds and fish on the tree.

Such as this bird. Not made by mom this time, but a great deal at an after christmas sale last year, yay.

Here's our number 1 fish. She's the queen. It's the mama fish. Remember Max's best friend Mama Fish? (you can see her in a photo in this post if you need a refresher)
My mom made this mama fish for Max a few years ago, and somehow I've been able to keep him from kissing her to death. She's adorable and it's been fun to hang her on our tree every year.


Here's a sheepy that my mom made for me so long ago. I can't even come close to remembering what year. So cute.
(I love the way the christmas lights look back there behind it!)

And a more recent sheep by mom. Gorgeous, wearing a quilt as some sort of saddle blanket. These are the kind of ornaments I don't always get out when living in a house with hardwood floors, a small boy and a big dog. But this guy got to come out this year, and somehow survived!
Behind him you can see one of my Russian basilicas.

I got two of these little guys when I travelled to Russia and Siberia in college. I don't think they were meant to be christmas ornaments, but I thought they were perfect for the tree. And they're fun to hang up because I remember my trip.


My mom made this teeny tiny adorable tree for me when I was little. You can tell how small it is when you look at the lights compared to it. I always loved the miniscule ornaments she made out of clay.  Amazing.  I think this one may have been in 1989? Correct me if I'm wrong.


This was somehow not made by my mom, but by one of her friends. It came from the famed christmas party. I love it.

So that's just a little taste. I just grabbed my camera really quickly while cleaning up and took a few fun pictures before I packed all the ornaments away. But there are many more, and they're all special. I guess it's good to leave stuff to put up here next christmas. What if I ran out of things to talk about?!?

But I forgot to write about my christmas miracle. It had to do with the tree.
When we came back from Florida I plugged in the tree and realized that one of the strings of lights had gone out--at least half of it was out. So there was a big black spot on the tree. Kris didn't notice it and claimed to hardly be able to see it when I pointed it out. I really wanted to fix it, but things got a little crazy. I got new lights, but wasn't able to pin down enough time to take off a bunch of the ornaments, untangle the lights and then put them all back on. In fact, it was starting to sound really hard and stressful.
So I took Kris's advice and just ignored it (to the best of my ability.) It was hard because every time I saw the tree in the dark it kind of bummed me out. You girls know what I mean, right?
BUT here's the great part. When we came out on christmas morning all the lights were on. It did feel a little like a miracle, although I'm sure that miracle energy should be spent on much more important things. But it made me feel happy and good and blessed. And that's a good way to feel on christmas morning.

And this is officially my last christmas post of the 2008 holiday season.

:: preparing for festivities::

Wow, I feel like I haven't posted in weeks, and it's only really been three days. Well I'm sure everybody missed me, so I'm back. Phew.
Max and I spent this week trying to get ready for Christmas.
Kris and I had brought the tree up from the basement a few days before thanksgiving because we had to rearrange our living room. Our nice big flatscreen TV that we bought back in Kansas City died. Just suddenly conked out when Max was in the middle of an important PBS show. There was still sound but no picture. We took it to a repair place and they wanted $750 to fix it. Hah.
So luckily we had a small TV we were using in our room. We moved that out to the living room and rearranged the rest of the room around the tree.

And the tree sat there as just a naked tree until a couple of days after thanksgiving. That's when I found the star and put it on top. Then it sat there as just a tree with a star for like three more days until I finally got the lights up. And of course the lights were sitting in a box at the foot of the tree all that time. At least I finally did it.

Then lighted and starred the tree was ready for some ornaments. Kris didn't mind that Max and I worked on it while he was at work, so we got started the other day.

It's so fun to open up the ornament boxes.

Sometimes I forget what fun stuff I have until I hang the stuff on top and get down to the next layer of tissue paper and ornaments. It's magical.
And yes, that's a spoon in there. It's not misplaced. It's an antique spoon from Silver City, UT. If you have questions about it just ask Kris's dad. He's the guy that gave it to us!


I have a separate box for some of the more delicate stuff. Some of it didn't come out this year. We're once again on a hard wood floor, and with a 4 yr old and a dog I just don't want anything shattered on the floor.

Last year I did a lot of after christmas shopping. I usually don't like to do that because it's kind of anti-climactic. But I loved it this time. Going through my boxes it was like I had a whole bunch of new stuff I didn't remember. And getting things at 50 or 75% didn't hurt. I'm going to do it again this year.

Max was the most concerned about finding his sock monkey ornament. Remember that guy? Kris's mom bought it for us several years ago (with amazing foresight), before the sock monkey craze at our house started. Then last year when he came out of the box Max almost lost his mind. The sock monkey had a little friend!
So he was really excited to see the baby monkey again.
Sock monkey even got to come out for the occasion, and he hasn't been out much lately.

He doesn't look that excited in this picture, but that's just because I kept telling him to hold still.

This one is much better.

I have so many fun and sentimental and awesome ornaments. I think later this month I may do a post and highlight some of them. Many of them come from my mom and are handmade. They're such treasures.
Here's one of my favorites. It's not from my mom, it's from Kris. It's Kris's valiant effort at an ornament for my parent's annual christmas party/ornament exchange.

I think it's so adorable. And he was so brave. Can you tell what it is? It's Santa orbiting a planet on a sled of course. And poor Santa is looking a little the worse for wear. It's been 8 years he's been orbiting.
Anyway, I love this little guy. It reminds me of good times and how much my husband loves me!

It was fun to decorate with Max. He's actually getting big enough to help with something like this and stick to it for a while, and big enough that I'm not worried he's going to eat or break anything I give him. I did have to do a lot of adjusting though. It seemed like he wanted to hang every single thing I gave him in the same spot. There was a huge clump of stuff down at the bottom when he got done. But we fixed it.


I'll post the a picture of the whole tree later. And maybe some individual ornaments. But how can I choose which ones?