Merry Christmas

Chris and I debate getting a tree every Christmas because we always leave town for the holidays. Tuesday night we stopped by a local tree lot in our neighborhood on a whim and picked out a perfect tree for our home.


Chris found a bunch of lights and ornaments in the basement that belonged to his mother Glenda. Glenda went through a southwestern decorating phase so we were not surprised to find cactus and chili pepper tree lights. Initially I said, "There is no way those tacky lights are going on my tree," but I soon changed my tune to, "There is no way those tacky lights are NOT going on my tree."

Here she is before the ornaments went on. Look at those great lights.

Glenda also had several boxes of amazing ornaments--a lot of them are handmade.
Chris's favorite is the blow fish with a beak glued on to his lips.

Here is his face. Isn't he so cute!


My favorite ornament is the sequined stegosaurus.
There is also a matching brontosaurus.


Other classics include the dangling snake,

pink flamingo whose feet are wired to the branch so it stands upright,

sequined trout,

alpaca,


and the California Condor.


I got out some of my ornaments from my childhood including my very first ornament,


And finally--you can't have a tree without an angle on top!

I also got out my Nativity set my Mom got for me a couple of years ago.

Chris got out our little St. Francis of Assisi figure which somehow made it into the Nativity set.

Happy Holidays everyone!