The Christmas Tree

Here is our beautiful Christmas tree, in all its festive glory!

Once again, we borrowed an artificial tree from Marlene, Michael's mother. She has so many at her disposal, and she is always kind and willing to share one with us. And for that, we are very grateful.

We did have the discussion today, as we were walking into Smith's, that when we have kids, we HAVE to buy real trees every year. The smell is amazing, and the nostalgia calls us back to times growing up when our families had real trees each year. There is just nothing like it in the world. But, for now, seeing as we are poor college students still and renting, we are perfectly happy to borrow an artificial tree for our use. We're just happy to have a tree at all!

Each year, I like to buy one or two cute ornaments from Six Star (the glorified dollar store where I work) to add to the tree. They are inexpensive and make our tree unique.

This "Better Not Pout" ornament was my choice for this year. I just love it for a couple reasons. One, the words are from a song, so that brings music into the picture. And two, it reminds us to be good girls and boys.

This little nutcracker is so ME. For Christmas, there are collectors of Santa, Snowmen, etc. Well, I collect nutcrackers. As long as I can remember, my mother and I would go to see "The Nutcracker" each year around Christmastime. I, of course, love the classical music by Tchaikovsky and knew it all by heart, even when I was as young as 4! I guess you could say such a tradition sparked my interest in nutcrackers in general and they are displayed in my home every Christmas.

I bought this little ornament for Michael the Christmas when we were still dating. He laughed when he saw it. Reminds me that I need to go out and find some mistletoe... :)

As you can see, our color scheme is very traditional with reds, golds, and greens. We love the simplicity of it all. When we picture Christmas like in old movies and books, we see colors and tones similar to what we have on our tree. We also love to mix white lights with colored lights. A little trick I learned from a friend (Thanks Jake!) a long time ago. The colored lights are best brought out by some white, which lighten up the tree.

As for the presents, I am SO close to being finished with my Christmas shopping for Michael. I know, I'm amazed and proud too! Of course, it couldn't have happened without the amazing Arianne on Tuesday. We went on a serious shopping spree in the afternoon, all the while catching up on some much needed girl time. It was one successful and extremely fun outing!

I love this new wrapping paper, also purchased at Six Star. It's so old fashioned and only cost me $1!!! Many people don't realize this, but Six Star is THE BOMB.

Lastly, I just couldn't help but post a picture of this adorable BAG nestled by our tree. It came from a box of Christmas gift items purchased at Seagull Book a couple years ago. The box included 24 different sized bags, 12 different kinds of wrapping paper, treat bags, gift card pouches, tissue paper, gift tags and sticky labels....all for just $10. Steal of a deal. I don't even have a gift in the little penguin bag, I just wanted it out for decoration because it is ADORABLE!

There's our Christmas tree for the year of 2010. I'll post more pictures of other decorations/creations to come. Love this time of year!