It's no secret that Christmas is my favorite holiday....and season! I am really glad that we celebrate the birth of our Savior for more than just one day.
So without further delay, more decorations.
One more Nativity that I picked up two years ago. It's a whimsical Nativity, but it's not gaudish or disrepectful (I can't stand the snowmen Nativities or the Cowboy versions!) With some happy bokah.
There are actually 2 full Nativities on our mini tree. In the Advent Calendar, we have boxes filled with ornaments. Every day the kids get to put another ornament on this tree and read a scripture. I taped a list of Christmas scriptures inside the door last year instead of putting them in the box. That way they don't get lost after we read them.
We love our gingerbread houses too. This year we bought a kit and made a village instead of making them from scratch. I have to say that it's just as much fun to decorate these as the homemade ones.
We used up the last of the Halloween candy as well. Matt's house is in the back left with a one-eyed alien landing on the roof.
Maddy's house was a bit more traditional this year....
I do have a few snowmen around since we don't have any real snow!
Our tree is filled with ornaments that remind us of past years. We try to get a new one for each member of the family every year. (and maybe a few extra just for fun)
I have several photos on the tree. I'm trying to add these every year. That way, when the kids are grown and married with kids, I will have a tree full of happy memories of my babies!
Hidden Mickey from our trip to Disney world on Matt's R&R 2009
I made this with my mom when I was a kid. I don't remember when we did it, but this was at a Relief Society function (probably Super Saturday) and I got to make this one. It's warped over the years, but I still love it.
Every year that Matt deployed, I bought a patriotic ornament. Needless to say, we have a lot of those.
more pictures of the kids!
This was the Hallmark ornament that came out the year we were married. We actually have 2 of them. My parents and Matt's parents both gave one to us for Christmas.
The snowman family in the back left is "our first Christmas as a family". Unfortunately, it wasn't Connor's first Christmas because Matt was in Korea at the time. So the following year, 2003 was our "1st year"
And I was a Can Can Dancer for several years.....so I HAD to get a dancing Rudolf and Santa!
We bought our little house in Texas in 1999, when I was 21. I came back from Bosnia and Matt had jsut returned from Peru. We were thrilled to have a home. Little did we know that we would live in that house by Fort Hood for 11 years.
I've never found a tree topper that I really liked. They are usually too gaudy, so I made this one when we first got married. It's still not what I want....but I'll change it when I find the perfect topper. There are also two flags at the top of the tree. Matt's family does that every year and we wanted to carry on that tradition.
I also decided to add a flag to the tree for every member of our family that has served in the military.
Both our fathers, My mother, All of my siblings, cousins on both sides, grandparents and great grandparents ......the list is pretty long.
Texas is HOT! Got to have some Chili peppers! Although these work just as well for Arizona!
Central Texas was great-We were close enough to visit Sea World several times, usually with our friend's the McCormick family!
I sold Pampered Chef after Connor was born so I got this little pot rack with mini dishes.
Cool Cars are very important to Matt! (64 GTO)
This is one of the ornaments that I have from my childhood collection....
The first year we were married, we had very little money for a tree. The PX had a huge tree on sale for $50. We couldn't believe it! This was a $300 tree. Apparently, instead of getting 30 trees, they had hundreds arrive at the store. So 13 years later, we have this amazing tree. The down side was we couldn't afford to buy ornaments! We had to wait till the next payday to get some and even then the tree was pretty bare. Many of the ornaments have broken over the years, but we still have a few. These bells and some blue balls and marroon balls can still be found if you look hard enough! They are tied on with ribbon because we didn't have hangers and had to make do with what we could find.
My Grandma Nova made this for me in 1981....I love this.
Maddy made a lot of ornaments this year. "For God so loved the world"
Connor doesn't look very happy here.....but I love handmade ornaments.
Matt was in Korea in 2002....
Our photo from Disney world 2009
Matt's dream car. 69 GTO Judge, with presents in the back seat!
This is the view most people are used to seeing.
I showed this nativity yesterday....
I helped Maddy's class make Gingerbread houses. Maddy has two gingerbread guys having a marshmallow snowball fight....love it!
Love her!
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