I’ve been holding myself back from decorating for Christmas too early this year. Okay, I’m lying. Actually, I asked Ryan over a week ago to bring up the decorations, but he’s been procrastinating — which, truthfully, is fine because it kept me from being one of Those People. (You know who you are, haha!)
Yesterday morning, with Thanksgiving and Black Friday in our past, we finally gave in began decking the halls. This year in particular, tree decorating was a big deal: Not only was it the first time E.V. actually got to participate in hanging the ornaments, but it’s also the first time since we’ve been married that I gave in and let our tree not be matchy-matchy. I like to have a pretty, purposeful tree that enhances our decor and has perfectly-coordinated ornaments; Ryan does as well, but he also enjoys un-themed trees just as much. (I do, too, but I prefer our main space to have a matching tree.) He has about a bajillion random ornaments that have barely seen the light of day over the past decade (a few made an appearance on a small secondary tree about four years ago), and so when I declared that we could have a Random Tree this year, he was excited. I figure that once we’re in our new house I’ll want a themed tree again, so it’s fitting that for our last Christmas in Amityville we have a tree that’s a bit crazy. ;)
Digging through the box of Daddy’s childhood ornaments was fun for Ryan and the girls, and although it’s not my favorite tree we’ve ever had, I decided to go all-out and use our old red Christmas decorations from when we first got married. (Since then I’ve gathered Christmas decor that’s more natural and green to match our everyday living room decor and have ditched anything red. I can’t remember the last time we used them!) This year’s decorating is almost done, and even though I can only claim about five ornaments on our tree as “mine” (i.e. the singular ornaments I’ve purchased myself each year over the past few Christmases), I’m happy to see my family enjoying Ryan’s collection. As we were finishing up and realizing that my God not all of them are going to fit on the tree, I warned Ryan, “Make sure you pull out all of your favorites, because it’s going to be a looong time before we do this again!” And, so, yes, TMNT definitely made the cut. ;)
I’ll post some photos of our decor once it’s 100% done, but here are a few glimpses into the process (the MESSY process). Also, please take note of my toddler’s obsession with princess shoes — and her insistence that I wear a pair as well, no matter how many times I tell her that my feet are too big. ;)
