Why I Love My Tree

I'm taking my time getting all my decorations down this year. It will all be done by the end of tomorrow though. And I suppose this post would have been more timely at the beginning of the season, but as I bid farewell to my tree, I am dedicating a blog post to it.

First of all, my husband and I started our own tree tradition shortly after we were married. He (and the kids) likes colored lights, I like white. So we alternate every year. This year it was my year. After getting a real tree the last couple years, I decided that the real tree starts to dull, the branches don't support the weight of the ornaments, and by New Years it is a very sad looking tree. While it smells nice, I've officially decided I prefer our fake tree. So I made him drag it out this year (which was far easier than getting a real tree anyway. It took all of 10 minutes to get it out and put it up!)

So I had my beautiful dark green fake tree with stronger branches and my white lights!

But here is why I really love my tree. Some people's trees have hardly any ornaments. Other people's trees look like they come straight out of a department store! I like to think my tree is somewhere in the middle. My tree has a TON of ornaments. Just when we think there's no where left to put ornaments, I pull out a big box of filler ornaments and keep adding them. I love it! And I like bright and shiny ornaments that show up against the lights.

So I have lots of ornaments, but of so many different varieties.

Some are from our vacations. I love pulling them out each year and remembering all the places we've been.

Some are sentimental.

Some are homemade - made with love.

And some are just pretty.

In short, my tree tells a story. So I'm sad to see it go. But I'm proud of my tree - it has love, sentimental value, AND beauty. And it makes me happy. What do you like about your Christmas decorations? Any favorites?