trees #5 and #6

Here are pictures of trees #5 and #6. They are matching trees in little pots. Very cute. I place them on either side of the doorway that goes between the gameroom and playroom. They each have their own theme too. This first one is on the right and its ornament theme is the girls' "name" ornaments. Usually every year I give them a new little ornament that has their name and year on it. These ornaments all go on here. Also on this tree are two of my all-time favorite ornaments. They are the "first ornament" for T when she was a baby from each of her Grandma's. One is a clear glass binkie, and the other is a pair of white porcelain baby shoes. Hanging on the bottom you may notice some big egg-shaped ornaments in red, gold, blue, and green. These are our "Christmas Angel" ornaments. They have a clasp on them and they each open, and we place a little note inside of something we were able to do to bless someone else for Christmas. I started this several years ago and my hope was that as the girls grow older they will learn to appreciate their own blessings more, but also that they will realize how wonderful it is to bless someone else. Also, when they are older, I am planning on using one of the four ornaments for each of us so that we can each do something on our own, then when we open them on Christmas morning it is a surprise to the others what that blessing was. We spend that time while opening these ornaments to pray for those people that received the gifts. I'm hoping this stays a tradition in our family and that my kids grow to love it as their favorite part. I got the idea from a story I read years ago about a man who didn't really want any presents for himself and felt that all the abundance of gifts in his family was too much when there where others out there sufferring. So, his wife one year , instead of giving him a gift, spent the money instead to buy uniforms for an inner-city school sports team that was lacking. To tell him she had done it, she simply put an envelope on the tree with a note inside explaining what she had done on his behalf. Several years later, the man died unexpectedly. That Christmas there were 3 envelopes on the tree. His wife and each of his two kids, on their own, had carried on his wishes and continued to sow into others on his behalf, just as he would have wished. It touched my heart and thought it was very cool. So that is how our little tradition with the egg ornaments started.

The second tree of the pair is on the left and has those lighted presents underneath that I made. This tree is my Colorado tree. We have traveled to Colorado almost every year since we've lived here for my husband's annual elk hunt, and to go skiing with my best friend and her husband who live in Colorado. Every time I am there I pick up several colorado-, cabin-, bear-, or moose-themed ornaments. This tree holds all those ornaments. If you didn't know, I LOVE cabin decor and the whole cabin environment (cozying up to a fire, with hot cocoa, in a plaid blanket, with snow falling outside)...just wonderful! Love it! So this tree is my "ode" to that.

This is what the two look like on either side of the doorway. I like the idea of a pair. I think its cute.

Stay tuned... only one tree left... and its the grand finale!