home depot and hallmark will make all your holiday dreams come true.

This is our glorious Christmas tree:

I am positively in love with it for several reasons. One being that we got it at Home Depot (thanks for the tip, Lauren) for a fraction of the price of last year's (much smaller and less full) tree that we purchased at a tree lot. I love tree lots for the romance of picking out the perfect tree among them all, but this year I just wanted a real tree for a decent price. Home Depot provided that, but also so much more: truly this tree is an absolute beauty. And the piney fragrance that it fills my home with? I am in love.

The other reason I love this tree is that the ornaments that fill its branches have so much meaning to me. My mom started collecting Hallmark ornaments for her children to commemorate important events in our lives, to remind us of things we like, or just because they reminded her of us. This year I got all my ornaments and every time I look at my tree I love them more and more. Here is a sampling of just a few (we each have one for every year of our lives so far):

This one is called "World of Hope" and reminds me of some of the treasured experiences I've had in far-away places.

This one is because I am probably the only girl you know that loves sports enough to watch SportsCenter by my own choosing.
This stork is carrying a blue bundle with "2007" written on it to commemorate the year of Baby G's birth.
This actually plays music and I got it because I play the piano.

This one is brand new and is for Baby G. It is the spaceship from "Little Einsteins" and plays the theme song from the show. Baby G is obsessed with it (that's why it doesn't have a hook on it. He kept ripping it off the tree so I decided to just take the hook off and set it on the branches so that whenever he wants to play with it he can just go pick it up).

Lighthouses are special to J and I because when we were seniors in high school a bunch of us went to see "The Majestic." We were still pretending not to like each other at that point, but we were brave and sat by each other in the movie. In the movie the characters end up kissing in a lighthouse for some reason (can't remember), but at that part J leaned over to me and whispered, "We need to find ourselves a lighthouse." You better believe that I spent the rest of our senior year trying to plot a way to get to a lighthouse with him. We finally got to one right before his mission when we were in Hawaii.

In my family we are pretty much obsessed with "A Christmas Story." We watch it every year on Christmas Eve and we can all quote the whole thing. So this leg lamp was a must for all of us.

Another view-- "Fra-jee-lay. Must be Italian."

I think I got this fridge just because it is so dang cute. Or maybe my mom was trying to illustrate my love of food.

Here is the inside of the fridge:

This is a "1984 First Christmas" ornament to commemorate my birth.

To remind us of the 'round the clock care that a newborn requires (the hands spin around and around.)

Because we love to camp (the fire really glows).

And then these are just a couple of the other decorative measures we have taken to get in the Christmas mood around here.

I saw this present garland in the Pottery Barn catalog and thought it would be so easy to make. Mine didn't turn out as cute as theirs, but it is still a fun little way to be festive.

Last night J put the lights up on our house and Baby G would not leave his side. He kept his hammer with him just in case Daddy needed any help.
His little red nose is evidence of the freezing temperatures that he braved to help his daddy hang the lights.

Yesterday's snow made it finally feel like December, and I was really glad. I hadn't been feeling the Christmas love yet just because the weather has felt like September! I don't know how those of you who live in warm weather year-round do it. It just isn't Christmas without snow.