Decorating Day:)

NaNo Word Count Update: I finally got around to checking, and I surprised myself! Instead of just 10K, I've managed to put 18K words down. No winner's circle, but hey...it's 18K more than I had on Nov 1st:)

Kelly: Cindy K Green wrote A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Your Wedding.

My hubby brought home a wonderful surprise for me, both Wednesday night and last night. He'd stopped at our storage unit in our old town and picked up OUR Christmas ornaments, home decorations, and tree:)

His mother's tree is getting a new home at his daughter's apartment, along with some of Grandma's ornaments.

What is it about my tree I like so much? For starters, we bought it the year we married, and the decorations are whimsical. No glass balls, or any special color scheme; no, our tree is full of memories.

-The soft ornaments I grew up with during the cat phaze. K and S would lie under the tree as babies and 'play' with them.
-The ornaments my grandmother gave me each year. Some were made from sea shells; others were from Hallmark. All have my name and year purchased on them.
-My children's paper ornaments, lovingly made at preschool and in kindergarten. They have their pictures on them, and the date.
-Our vacation ornaments: A moose from Montana, an elk from Colorado; a picture ornament from Vancouver.
-Every year I buy a special one: A champagne bottle for Y2K; a train engine when K was fascinated with Thomas the Tank Engine; a new 'Baby's 1st' in 2004; a Barbie one for the year I baby-sat all the kids.
-Always near the top of the tree sit two special ornaments: The Clip-On Santa who graced the very top of the tree the year our Star broke and the Nativity ornament we bought at the Speedway Gas Station that same year. It was the only ornament on the tree, besides the Santa and a few colored balls for our 1st Christmas together. That was all we had at the time.

My tree has its own personality. It's not pretty, or show-room quality; it is our FAMILY's tree, and full of memories. When we're decorating the tree, the majority of the conversation is "Oh, I remember when we got/I made/you bought this!"...and memories and laughter flow.

What's on your tree?

Today, the lights will be strung across the porch, and our front room will be very inviting. It will stay that way until at least New Year's Day, or soon after. I don't get people who take everything down the day after Christmas. But if this is your tradition, that's fine. Mine is staying up for another week.