Our Wedding Tree

If you know me at all then you know that I am a huge fan of Christmas. It's by far my favorite holiday and I plan all year on the things that I want to when it comes to our decorations. So last year when we were planning our wedding, I wanted to incorporate as much Christmas as I could without it becoming too much Christmas and not enough wedding. One of the things that we did was instead of having a guest book we had guests sign ornaments.

Our videographer took this photo of our instructions to guests

 



We had multiple colors of ornaments and different color sharpies, set the baskets out and waited for the guests to fill them up. Our venue packed them after the wedding and they were boxed until this year. This year when we got them out of the box it was our first opportunity to see the ornaments. I thought this would be a fun thing to have instead of a guestbook that I honestly would probably only look at about once every 10 years. This way having the ornaments signed, we can take them out every year and look at them as we decorate the tree.

Our tree topper was actually our cake topper. I had it custom made on etsy and it worked perfectly as our tree topper. The ribbon was from a very large present we received.

Throughout the tree we have little wooden nutcrackers. These nutcrackers were a part of our wedding favors. We had these miniature nutcrackers on miniature champagne bottles. I kept a full set of the 8 different designs that we gave out.

I also included a copy of our program and our wedding invitation. Then I included ornaments that people gave us as presents. Everyone knows how much I love Christmas so you wouldn't believe the amount of ornaments that people gave us featuring our wedding date and names. I loved every one of them and I loved taking them out of the boxes. I'm sure I will for years to come.

I love how our tree turned out and I hope to put these ornaments on the tree for years to come. I'm trying to decide what to do for the tree skirt. I wish I had scraps from when they altered my wedding dress but the designer made it to my size and no extra material was available. I can't decide what to do for it. Hmm... any ideas?

Oh Christmas Tree!

One of my favorite traditions at Christmas is going out and getting my mom's live Christmas tree. Luckily this year I was able to continue the tradition of helping her with the tree. First thing first is getting the tree into the stand and making sure it's straight! Then you've got to pick the best side to show off all Christmas season.

 

Once we get the tree into the stand it's time to add the lights. This year it took us three light sets and then we used to strands of special lights that we got when I was a kid. They are actual M&M guys on strands of lights. Over the years the lights have given out and we've replaced the lights with new ones. There is one set that still has the original lights in it. I guess they'll keep going until the one year they don't and we will replace them.

Right after the lights go on it's time for the garland. I always feel garland is the hardest part on a real tree. It took us four strands of garland this year to fit around the tree.

The last thing that we do before getting all the ornaments on the tree is put the angel on top.

Once the Angel is firmly on the tree we can get started adding all of the decorations. We have ornaments that we've collected for years. There is ornaments that I made as a kid that we put on the tree and of course Hallmark ornaments that we collected like the first Barbie ornament.

A few years ago we had an incident where the tree wasn't cut evenly and wasn't sitting in our stand completely flat. This caused the tree to fall over in the night. We completely freaked out! We woke up, came downstairs and saw our beautifully decorated tree laying on the ground with ornaments everywhere and several of them broken. We got it back up and super glued the ornaments the best we could. The rest of that Christmas we watched the tree like a hawk. We would ask each other, "Does it look like it's leaning?" almost every day just in case.

Once we've got all the decorations on the tree we take a photo of us together. We also start working on the rest of the decorations around the house including the village on the mantle. The village is difficult to put together so every year I take on that task. Next year I'm also going to be putting up my own village and that will be a job!

What traditions do you have when you put up your Christmas tree? Do you get a real one?

Ugly Christmas Sweater

I remember when these sweaters in the mid 90's were really popular. I think people thought they were ugly back then but we wore them as a joke. Now their all the rage at Christmas season. Let's take a little look at some really, really ugly Christmas sweaters.

 

 

 

 

These are some of just the thousands that are out there! Do you have any ugly Christmas sweater you break out every year?

Old Saint Nicholas

 

Over the years Old Saint Nicholas has evolved. We've seen Santa's appearance change along with his outfit and his surroundings. One thing that has stayed the same, is the love for Santa Clause. Let's take a look at the ever evolving Santa...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five on Friday

1. Christmas is the best time of the year.

I have the post Christmas blues. I love the holidays and Christmas is my favorite. I'm sad that it's over. I feel like with Thanksgiving and Christmas being so close this year that all of us got robbed an entire week of holiday joy. I'm so glad that I was able to travel to West Virginia and spend it with family. Santa visited me and brought me tons of great stuff but I would have been happy even if I didn't get a single thing. Being home was enough for me.

2. The Christmas Ham. My mom out did herself this year. She made an amazing ham.

We prepared the ham on Christmas Eve. We got it covered in the pineapples and smeared the brown sugar mixture all over it. Christmas morning this bad boy went into the oven and came out six hours later. It was so good! My mom also made tons of sides which were yummy as well. It isn't Christmas without some ham!

 

3. Christmas Cookies and Candy. My mom and I made some homemade cookies and chocolate covered peanut butter balls. When I say my Mom and I, I should clarify. My mom basically did everything and I helped paint the cookies and cover the balls in chocolate. Just to be clear. I am not Martha Stewart when it comes to all things.

 Cookies for Santa! Clearly he loves Christmas trees and stars.

Prepping the peanut butter balls. Then the finished product...

I can't know how to make these. If I did, I would make them everyday and eat every single one. That's how good they are. Seriously.

 

4. Christmas flowers.

Someone sent me flowers on Christmas Eve. I thought it was super sweet and nice. Look at that cute boot! I mean flowers and a Christmas boot, how can that not be awesome!?!

 

5. It's back to the real world now with work. Ugh....



Oh Christmas Tree!

When I was in Huntington for Thanksgiving, my mother and I went out and got our Christmas tree. Since I was a kid, we have always went out and got a real tree. We always get them at a place called Stewarts because they have the best trees in town. The Frasier Firs always smell so great and last the whole season without shedding needles or dying early. When we went to get ours this year it was freezing. Hence the awesome hat...

We started with a bare tree and ended up with this beauty. After the great tree falling of 2011, we have always been a little nervous about getting the tree into the stand. No one ever wants their tree to fall to the ground after being completely decorated. It was a nightmare. So this year we let the tree sit for a few hours before the decorating commenced.

We got it up and decorated before I had to leave!

I was able to get a few presents wrapped while I was there! I can't wait for the holiday! This is definitely my favorite time of the year.

What are you looking forward to most this Christmas season?