Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

Jose and I put up our tree already. I know it is early but I just couldn´t wait after we bought the tree itself. I needed to test it out in our space and see how it would look with the few ornaments we have. We definitely need to add to our collection but I can say that what we have so far at least has meaning. We need some fillers but our little tree is looking good. I like that each ornament has a memory attached to it. Growing up my mom would put our school picture in an ornament each year. Soon the tree was full of them and there was not room for much else. I will do this someday with my kids as well. Until then we have our just starting out ornaments which include:



-2 little marshmallow snowmen that were Christmas gifts from my mom last year. She said that she walked into Bed, Bath and Deyond and the first thing she saw was them hanging right next to each other which might not be so weird if they didn´t have our names on them. First it is hard to find our names on personalized things like pens, mugs or license plates. Jose and Alexandra just aren´t that common I guess and second the rest were in alphabetical order. She said after she saw them like that she had to buy them.



-A Simpsons ornament that was another gift for Jose. Here one of the most popular shows happens to be an American import. The Simpsons are on several times a day and Jose has seen almost all of the episodes. This is a show that we can watch together (and in English). This ornament also talks. Pretty cool.



-We have 2 Michigan shaped ornaments. One was a gift from my friend Erica. The other came from a visit to Bronner´s Christmas store which is AMAZING. It is a store devoted entirely to Christmas. It is a wonderland. My mom had the ornament personalized with a heart over Brighton. It is actually out on display in our house year round.



-Last but not least we have 4 beautiful Swarovski crystal ornaments. I began collecting these annual ornaments while working my way through grad school in North Carolina. We have one from each year that we have been together. They add a lot of sparkle and I love that they change the design each year. I am going to continue this collection even if I have to budget a bit more for them since they aren´t exactly cheap.

Well, that´s it so far. I am excited to add more to the tree. I don´t even mind that it looks a bit bare. I would rather hang things that mean something to us rather than spending a bunch of money just to fill it up. One thing we definitely need is a star for the top. That is our mission now. Hopefully our Cooper dog will leave the tree alone. So far, so good but we are being careful!

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