The first year my husband and I were married we also bought and remodeled a house ourselves. When Christmastime rolled around I was thrilled to get set up for the holidays in our new home but going and buying a bunch of holiday decor wasn't in the budget. Ornaments for the tree or new pulls for all the drawers in the kitchen? Dinner out or use that $50 for 2 gallons of paint? You get the picture. Ever the pragmatic one, I went for the drawer pulls.
One of my favorite parts of the holidays is going to the mailbox each day to find it full of Christmas cards. With e-mail, text messaging and e-vites it's so rare to get "real" mail these days. It makes it all the more fun to have stacks of pictures to look forward to each day. However, all those cute cards ended up in a bowl on a table somewhere. As they say, necessity breeds invention and inspiration struck...let's clothespin the cards to the tree and make them our ornaments instead! That way all the cards would be out for us to enjoy as well as our guests throughout the season - because lets be honest - it's fun to look at everyone's Christmas cards - even if you don't know them.
See that? Hi Tory, Hi James, Hi Baby Jake! And there is my godson Kellis, giving me the peace sign. Right back at you buddy. I even like looking at pictures of pictures. Pathetic, I'm sure.
As our holidays have grown and so have the boxes of Christmas decorations that come out of the attic every year, the Christmas Card Tree is a tradition we've kept. We're not going to win any awards for the "perfect tree" with matching collectible ornaments but that's ok at our house. We get the tree started with lights and bright colored balls and then watch it fill up as Christmas draws closer. As the Christmas cards we receive have changed from documenting fun trips and the weddings of our friends to documenting how their families are growing and growing up, it's fun not only for us but for our kids to enjoy the photographs of their friends on the tree!
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Yesterday we loaded up the girls and went to the Christmas tree farm and cut down a great tree. Instead of the perfect shape and top, we tend to go for the tree with it's own personality. This year it has multiple "tops" springing out like a fountain. We also got a live, potted one for the girl's playroom and a little bitty one for the coffee table. We had a blast listening to Christmas music, stringing lights and hanging pink, turquoise and lime green balls on it's branches and putting stars on each of the many tops last night. Now we can hardly wait for the mail to start arriving!
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays! I hope this season is filled with joy!
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