Christmas Rememberances...

So...it's been a few months, huh?  Yea, life has been well...life :-)  But I'm ready to attempt working on the blog again.  Not promising a lot just yet, but one post at a time, maybe we can start visiting again!

Christmas seems like a perfect time to reconnect with you.  Granted, it's warm here where we live, but it's still almost Christmas, that wonderful holiday where people seem to have warmer hearts...except the ones in the Target parking lot (trust me, Black Friday has NOTHING on the few days before Christmas!).  

All in all, it's one of our favorite seasons in this home.  T and I love giving gifts, whether homemade, store-bought, electronic, etc...we just love seeing our family and friends pleased with things they receive.  We also love traditions and let's face it...besides Thanksgiving, Christmas is the best holiday for family traditions.  We attend Christmas Eve service (just as my family did every year while I was growing up) and the last few years we have stayed after to watch the light show our church displays all month long.  We also watch The Nativity each year on Christmas Eve as our last Christmas movie.  If you haven't seen it, it's a beautiful movie.

Being the sentimental person I can be, Christmas is again a perfect holiday for remembering.  Remembering the family members we have lost as well as the family and friends we still have in our lives.  Our eclectic Christmas tree each year is one of my biggest collection of memories. 

I'd like to share a few memories/ornaments with you :-)
 
It all starts with a live tree...I am married to a forester after all ;-)

 

I began collecting ornaments with my family growing up.  My Aunt Jo would give my brother and I an ornament every Christmas, they were usually larger ornaments, sometimes like small stuffed animal size :-)  This clown is one of my Jo memories..

This garland is actually my favorite thing to put on the tree every year...these clear plastic beads were on my Damma's (my grandmother) tree every year that I can remember.  When she and my Papa passed away, they became my mom's...when I married, they became mine :-)  They still have the same smell they did at Damma's house, it brings back so many wonderful memories.

 

And of course, the homemade, a few of the dough ornaments my mom made years ago (one is a football player with T's number!)...this wooden one I painted back in my childhood days...

This dough ornament J made and painted when he was much smaller...not the FIFTEEN year old he is now

This clear plastic Hallmark ornament hung on my Damma's tree as well and it goes up every year on mine...from 1980.

Ornaments made while J was still in public school...from Kindergarten days

T's and my first ornament I ever purchased for "us" while we were dating back in high school :-)

We tend to always purchase an ornament when we go on vacation to new places (everything from Yellowstone to Disneyworld)...this latest one is from the missionary trip I was blessed to take to St. Petersburg, Russia

We have fun ornaments like this one from T's very favorite Christmas movie....

We have several gorgeous Waterford ornaments that my hubby started purchasing me when we were first married...

Lots of ornaments from friends far and near such as this one from my "coffee girl" friend Julie who now lives in MS...

And of course, several 3Day ornaments that tie my memories not only to friends and family who have battled cancer but also to my teammates Wendy, Sherry, mom...

Let's not forget...our growing collection of TCU Horned Frog ornaments (up to about 10 now!)..and I even have one Univ. of Tennessee Santa that plays "Rocky Top" to represent grad school.  Guess we need an SFA ornament huh, T?

 
I started buying both the Hallmark All American Trucks and the Lionel Trains for T back when we were first married...the trains have become J's.  

 

And we have a pretty cool collection of wooden ornaments from T's current employer dating back several years...

We even have a few hunting theme ornaments, along with a shotgun shell wooden garland mom gave T one year that goes with my treasured plastic beads ;-)

But some of my most favorite of all are the birthday ornaments.  I started these with J after his second birthday, I buy one each year to represent the theme of his birthday, we are up to 15 now.  These will go with the boys when they have their own families and Christmas trees as part of their memories...this Tom and Jerry was from birthday 6...

And now SP has his first ornament...Buzz riding RC for birthday 2 (still have to buy a Blues Clues for Birthday 1...although he is trying to take big brother's ornament from his 2nd birthday back in 2000 ;-)  )

This is our tree, multi-colored lights and an angel on top just like I grew up with.  It's simple, it's not themed, nothing really matches, but it's us.  It's full of love and it makes us all smile.  These are our special memories...and I hope they become that for my boys too.