Trim the Tree: Ornament Party!

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." -Norman Vincent Peale

If you couldn't tell from the button above, I am joining the fabulous Kate at Centsational Girl for an ornament party today.

I had grand, ambitious plans of creating several ornaments to share with you all today, but then I ended up throwing an Ariel-Under-the-Sea birthday party for a certain little girl who just turned 4. I spent my weekend scraping confetti off of my kitchen floor instead of threading ribbon to glass balls.

As luck would have it, a few of the ornaments on our main tree are homemade. The rest I just like, so you'll have to look at those anyway if you want to read to the bottom to get to the link to the GIVEAWAY I'm hosting this week. So there.

My dad actually made these first three ornaments, and they are very special to me. He passed away when I was 16, so it's nice to have something to remember him by at Christmas. My mom's tree is filled with lovely things he made.

Our big (real, baby!) tree sits in our living room and is a true mish mash of ornaments. To some of you, it probably looks like my oldest's preschool class decorated it.

I'm okay with that. I'm not an interior designer. I adore trees with color themes or ornament themes, and I even have a few of those, but our "family" tree is eclectic because it's trimmed with ornaments that reflect all of our experiences.

These ornaments belong to my girls and are a reminder of the current stage of life I am in: mommy.

Some ornaments are reminders of vacations we've taken. I picked up this seashell star when T and I were visiting Paradise Island in the Bahamas. About 9 months later, Natalie arrived.

I bought this shopping bag ornament on one of my annual Girls Trips to NYC. Only 4 days until the next trip!

Some ornaments hang on our tree and are reminders of our own childhoods.

And some of my favorites were made by Natalie last year in her first year of preschool. They might not be worthy of a front row seat on many people's trees, but they are so special to me because Natalie is proud of them.

And also, she did not take them back after giving them to me, which some preschoolers are wont to do.

There is only one ornament on our tree that I hate. I loathe it more than anything I can think of besides exercise. I keep it on the tree because it is T's Christmas joy to hang it. If you check back in soon, I will share this hideous thing with you and let you have a laugh at my expense.

Until then, here's a parting shot of our tree at night.

If you missed my 1 Year Blogiversary/Christmas Giveaway from yesterday, please scroll down or visit here to sign up. Open until Thursday night! I'll announce the winner on Friday morning.

Happy tree trimming!