O' Christmas Tree...

In our home we enjoy the warm glow of two very different Christmas trees. The tree pictured below is our "family tree" and it once belonged to my Grandma. It's a small tree, but it was a perfect tree for Matt and I the first few years we were married. After we got our new tree we decided to continue using this tree for all of our special family ornaments.

On this tree we hang ornaments that Matt and I have saved from our childhood, ornaments that we have purchased on family vacations (we try to always buy an ornament when we go on vacations), ornaments the children have made, etc. Again, only ones that have special meaning!

Each year Matt and I purchase Eva and Jaden each an ornament that they open on Christmas Eve. The ornament has to have some sort of special meaning from the past year. Last year Eva received a Dumbo ornament because she loooooves elephants, loves the Dumbo movie, and was able to ride the Dumbo ride while we visited Disney World.

Jaden received a baby angel ornament with the words "Tis a Gift to Believe" because of the health scare we had with him last year and the miracle of finding out our little guy was just fine. We know angels surround him...as they do all of us and we are so lucky for that!

This year Eva made me this very special ornament. It has her handprint on it and each little finger has been made into a snowman. She was so excited for me to open it she literally could not WAIT until Christmas....I was lucky I convinced her to wait until we got home from school that day! I loooove it....so special.

This ornament was my very favorite ornament when I was a little girl....my own "Baby's First Christmas" ornament. I've always loved that it is pink, that it looks like a bubble, and that it has that pretty angel hair in it. I still love it today as much as I did when I was a little girl.

This is our other Christmas tree that sits in our living room. It's tall and that is my favorite things about it! It hold all kinds of pretty ornaments, but none that have any special meaning to them....just pretty ones to look at. The children enjoy decorating this tree because Matt and I allow them to use the ladder to reach higher points (but not too high)!

The special part of this tree is what lies underneath it....special gifts...lovingly wrapped by little hands...with special tags attached (this one is to Daddy from Eva and the one next to it is from Jaden). I had so much fun watching my little ones pick out a special gift for their Daddy and then watching them wrap them. Such little bodies, but those hearts sure hold a lot of love and kindness. Another good thing about this tree....Santa leaves his presents under it!

And as Eva so lovingly reminded me a few weeks ago...Christmas is not about trees, or ornaments, or presents. It's about the birth of Jesus. So tomorrow on Christmas Eve I'm planning on gathering my little ones up and instead of reading the Night Before Christmas we will read about something far more important...the birth of a little baby...and that is what Christmas is all about.

Merry Christmas!