Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

..."Thy leaves are so unchanging".......(and this is a LONG post)

Maybe those leaves are unchanging because we have a fake tree. I'm sorry y'all I just don't like real trees. Now before you go thinkin' I'm the worst person walking the face of the earth because I don't like a real tree, here's why:

1. Fire hazard (yes--real trees are a fire hazard) and I figure since our home has been broken into twice in 3 years, I don't need a fire hazard added to that. We all know I'm not going to water the dumb thing, so I'll just leave it in the field and let nature do her thing.

2. They shed. Much like a dog. And I don't like those either. Lord knows I don't have enough time now to sweep every day, or vacuum, and I'm certainly not going to clean up after 2 boys, a husband, myself, AND a tree!

3. They smell. Yes, some of them smell good, but Pine is not my favorite scent. I'm more of a sweet, cookie dough, or cider donut, kind-of-girl.

I figure that's three good reasons. The biggest one being #2!! I just don't like all that stuff on my floor and carpet, etc. I like a real tree in other people's homes, just not my own.

Alright, back to the real point here. We put up our tree right after Thanksgiving, but because I've been so busy, I haven't had time to update you on all our holiday decorations. I figure I'll show you our tree in this post and then the rest of our decorations in a subsequent post. (I have to show you our outside decorations, the 4 trees in our house, and other misc. decorations for Christmas!)

If you've ever been in my house, you know our ceilings are HIGH. And when I say high, I mean HIGH. Our tree is about 12 or 13 feet tall!! And it's not touching the ceiling at that height. I love our tree--(yes, I know it's fake--but I love our fake tree). It's one of those pre-lit trees and it has pinecones mixed into the branches and so it (sort of) looks real since it has various types of needles and such on it. Here's a few pictures of the (rarely seen) husband putting up the tree.....you won't see him in the pictures unless you look real hard...you can see his reflection in the window and peeking out from behind the tree in 2 of them.

Here are my little Christmas Elves helping decorate the tree. I'm reminded of why I like to do things myself (and NO it's not the control freak part of me either--it's the "if you drop that and break it, I'll have to clean it up" part of me).


So after the merry elves decorated and I went behind them and fixed it, here's what the finished product looks like....

Mind you that these pictures of our tree are not very good, but you get the idea. I'll try to find a better picture for you.

This picture is not very good, but you get the idea.....

And a few of my favorite ornaments and the story behind them (if there is one)....

No story here, I just really like the ornament.

This ornament is from our honeymoon. We went to Montana and we both thought this was so cool! It's handmade.

A green/red/sparkly white Mickey Mouse ornament from Disney....we bought this on our last Holiday trip to Disney (this was actually the trip that I took the kids on BY MYSELF!

A neat little ball that has red/green berry looking things on it. No story. I just like it. And this picture doesn't do it justice.

An old white wooden church. I just really like this ornament.

Cinnamon sticks tied and has pinecones and red berries on it.

A Mickey Mouse jingle bell ornament. LOVE IT!

THE REAL REASON FOR CHRISTMAS!!! Every time I see this ornament it makes me want to sing "New Star Shining"

Another white wooden church. Love the old church ornaments......

An old sled with bells and berries...and every time I see this ornament, for some reason it makes me sing "I'll be Home with Bells on" Not that we get snow in Florida to use the sled, but I'm just sayin'--that's the song it reminds me of.

Do you Believe? (Miracle on 34th Street!)

Another Mickey Mouse ornament. Yes, I'm addicted.

Alright, alright, I know you're sick of seeing ornaments....listen people--BIG tree = LOTS of ornaments. Lots of ornaments means lots of favorites.

I guess since this post has been a bit long, I'll show you the mantle and stockings in subsequent posts. Hope you enjoyed this tour of our tree......

"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree........"

~CB~