o christmas tree

Say hello to my little Christmas tree! This was the first year that we didn't do a fresh cut tree. I never thought I'd be one of "Those People" who only do fake trees {no offense}, but here I am. Just like I swore I'd never drive a minivan, right? I did miss the smell of the fresh tree, but it was sure nice to not shell out the money for it. And even nicer to not have to vacuum up pine needles for two months!

We have quite the collection of ornaments around here. My cute mom-in-law gives each of us a new ornament every year, so now that's 7 a year for our family! She lets us each choose one from the Hallmark catalog. They are so great! This year Will's is a miniature version of the old Fisher Price Little People airplane. The door even opens up and you can see the tiny people in it! The kids will take their ornaments once they've moved out, of course, but for now it's a lot of fun to plaster them all together on the tree.

Last year I bought a box of blue and silver ornaments on clearance at IKEA, thinking, "Hey! These would be perfect since I have blue walls!" I put them on the upstairs tree this year, but it just wasn't hitting the spot. I just couldn't do without red and green. So I decided to decorate it with all my Norwegian/Elf/Woodland themed ornaments instead, and it's a keeper. Some of the ornaments were brought from Norway years ago when my sister Cami went there to study abroad. My parents gave me a few from Norway too. The little green elf is part of a collection made by my super awesome friend Julie, and she gave me the little grey-bearded elves from IKEA too. Others, including the Norwegian flag garland, were purchased as newlyweds from the Scandinavian shop downtown {when it was still in business, so sad it's gone}.

I let the kids decorate the other little tree in the basement with all the ornaments from Grandma Ruthie, and we love it! Ben even made a popcorn string for it...too bad Olivia ate most it.

That's the story of this year's Christmas trees. I think we'll do the same thing next year!