Our First Christmas Tree

December 7, 2012

Happy December everyone! I hope the hustle and bustle isn't too overwhelming this year. I had most of my gifts purchased and wrapped a week ago! But that's because i started shopping on line and such in October... a little extreme? perhaps, but it allowed for us to enjoy our season with plenty of time to enjoy the moments and the decorations and the lights, etc.

One thing i really began working on early was our Christmas tree. My family has always taken real time being sure everything is perfect for our trees and i must say i am very proud of our first one! I am also proud that i didn't spend a fortune putting it together! The tree you see above here has 1000 multi colored lights! it has a fabric garland that i worked on for 3 whole days... i took 4 yards of material and cut all of it into strips of 1x5.5 inches. i then took each piece and tied it in a not around a piece of hemp string. it looks fabulous! (Thanks mom for the idea)! The tree also has 150 ornaments of different kinds. Some have been collected over the years, others purchased, and some i made this year or over the past few years. The ones i made this year are the 3 dimensional stars, there are 15 on the tree. My Aunt Annette gave me this idea and even used her Cricket to cut the star shapes out for me while we were visiting St. George of Thanksgiving! Thanks Annette! They were pretty easy to put together, each one needs 6 cut out stars, you need scissors and glue to assemble them and then i used a needle and thread to get them strung and ready for the tree.

Next year i plan to make gingerbread men to put on the tree as well. I still don't have a tree topper because i haven't found exactly what i have been looking for. I really want a 3 dimensional grape vine craft star. I would then take a strand of white lights and shove them into it! once again, thanks mom for the idea! I have been very unimpressed with the selections of tree toppers... so i am not getting one till i find the right one! Unfortunately that may mean waiting till next year... who knows though, it may take that long looking for one before i find one. Perhaps July will bring the star shape in to the stores. We shall see.

There are a couple Ornaments that i would like to share detail about. The one i am most proud of is the "Our First Christmas Together" ornament. it is a heart shaped ceramic ornament with one of our wedding pictures on it! I used zazzle.com to create it! Matt and i went on a cruise to Catalina Island and Mexico for our honeymoon as well as California Adventure to be there opening day of Cars Land! So while we were on the Cruise we bought a large round ceramic ornament that has palm trees and ocean and beaches on it to represent our cruise and while in California Adventure we bought a limited "Been There" pin with lightning and matter on it! It has the date we were there even on it! We turned the pin into an ornament with just a little red ribbon! There are several other ornaments that i have been given from Young Women Leaders growing up and from friends and mission companions and such. They are all wonderful reminders of who has made a difference in my life. 

A few things need be mentioned about Andrew... as is this is his first Christmas as a domestic kitty he is very interested and curious with all the new additions to the walls and especially the tree. He loves to hide behind it and chew on the limbs when we aren't looking. I can't tell you how many times he has been squirted with the water bottle since we've put the tree up. Perhaps when the season is over he will have gotten over his "addiction" to it! Another thing about Andrew is the presents under the tree. I like to embellish my gifts with curly ribbon... well guess who likes to eat curly ribbon? Yup, you guessed it... ANDREW! I came in one day and saw him chomping on some ribbon on one of Matt's gifts. i went over and pulled it out and well... it kept coming and coming out! He had nearly a foot of ribbon down his throat that i had to pull out! I then took my scissors and cut all the ribbon off the gifts.

Christmas time can get so crowded with all the hustle and bustle. I encourage all my readers to do their best to take time every day for the rest of the season and even through the whole year to focus on the things that really matter. There is a fabulous Rascal Flatts song that talks about things that Matter. Look it up, it will help make this season more enjoyable! Cheers!