Tree

I took some pictures of the tree with my phone and sent them to my blog. Sorry for the individual posts.
The first Christmas that David and I were dating... we went to Wal Mart in Arkadelphia where they had cheap metal ornaments you could write on with a carving pen. We did one for each other. Since then, we said we would always buy each other an ornament. David and I have merged into us getting one dated ornament and then I get each child an ornament... usually the day after Christmas. Me going out the day after Christmas and buying things CHEAP is my present. I look forward to it every year.
When David and I first got married, the only decent ornaments were the handful we had gotten each other. We were so poor, we couldn't afford to buy ornaments. I bought a little thing of mini ornaments b/c they cost less than full sized ornaments... and looked ridiculous on our tree. I had said I'd get a real tree every year, so we had a small 4 foot or so real tree. Eventually the mess got to me and I got an artificial one (after Christmas of course) a few years later. I cross stitched David's ornament that first year. I remember buying some kits to make your own ornaments (after Christmas). They were little caroling angels made of wood, raffia, and ribbon. It was then that we decided to buy our future children an ornament every year- so they would have a box of 25 or so nice ornaments that mean something. And our own tree will be a bit more sparse than it was previously.
I love getting out the ornaments. My tree looks nothing like what you would find in decorating magazines. All the ornaments are different. There is no color scheme. I don't have anything trendy on it. But, it has character. Each ornament was bought with purpose. I have some that students have given me. I have the dove that David used to propose. I have the UGLY ornaments we did for each other that first year we were dating :) And I have ornaments I bought for the kids each year... always getting something that somehow symbolizes them.
So, start at the bottom with the first tree picture and read up :)