Boy, have I enjoyed having Chicky home from college. Before she came home, though, the Mr. and Rooster helped me decorate the house…
The next three pictures are close-ups of my Santas Around the World collection…
I made the next decoration…back in my cross stitching days…
My dad gave me the frog in the next picture. It ribbits Christmas songs (and that’s Rooster’s baby picture next to it…wasn’t he a cute baby???)…
The kids painted the trees in the next picture…
And more decorations…
We acquired the elf at a Chinese gift exchange years ago. It was the best gift I've ever walked away with after participating in one of those games...
Even the kids’ bathroom got attention…
I wanted to make sure we got the tree put up before before Chicky went back to school, so that’s what I focused all of my energies on today. Unlike last year, when Rooster and I threw the lights on the tree in a similar fashion to how Jackson Pollock created many of his masterpieces, I actually took my time and meticulously wrapped each branch…
Then, it was time to add the ornaments! I am always curious about other people’s ornaments. I believe they reveal a lot about families. For instance, when I was growing up, my mom insisted that our tree have red lights and almost all red ornaments.
It sounds weird, but it was actually pretty.
The thing is, though, that there were never any homemade ornaments…nothing new added each year.
It led to a somewhat detached feeling.
The AuburnChick tree is a lot different. Many of the ornaments have been given to us, but we also have ornaments that the kids made…
One Christmas, when the kids were toddlers, we made our own dough, used cookie cutters to shape them, painted the, glazed them, and then wrapped them up as gifts.
We have purchased ornaments for the kids every year. The ornaments usually reflect whatever is going on or whatever the kids happen to be interested in…
Chicky's first-ever ornament
Rooster played baseball for a few years
Of course, soccer has been a very big part of both of the kids’ lives…
Chicky, in typical girl fashion, went through an American Girl Doll phase…
Rooster has always loved football…
We have a smorgasborg of Auburn ornaments, one of which is below…
And a combination of other miscellaneous trinkets…
The next ornament is an mp3 player that really does play music…
Over the years, I have made quite a few ornaments…some from kits and others from odds and ends…
We even have an ornament that the Mr. made wayyyyy back when bell bottoms were in style…
My favorite ornament, however, is the next one. I always put it in the front so that every time I look at the tree, I will remember what Christmas is REALLY about…the gift of God’s Son to deliver mankind from the punishment of their sins…
Here’s what the tree looks like all decorated…
I pray that as you see the pretty decorations and the bright lights, that you will remember what the season is all about.
God loved us so much that He gave us the most important gift we will ever be offered…His own Son. It is hard to imagine that kind of love.
THIS is the magic of Christmas…not some bearded, red-suited old man.
Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: christmas, decorating |
AuburnChick's Adventures 
I love your ornaments! We don’t have a “fru-fru” tree; we have ornaments that were given to us by other people for the most part. Isn’t that a big part of the holidays: remembering people who have been in your life?
Good for you getting all your decorations up so early this year. I haven’t even thought about that yet! The ornaments handmade by the kids are always the best in my book. We have lots!