We put our christmas tree up the other day.  First christmas in our new home!  Pretty exciting.  Really its a bittersweet feeling b/c I cant show my parents.  My dad was never into christmas, but I know my mom would be so delighted to see.  I love our little tree.  I looks much smaller in this big house then it did in our rent house where it almost reached the ceiling!  One of my favorite things is unwrapping all of my ornaments this year.  Im a sentimental girl at heart, and it is no different for christmas time.  Every single ornament on my tree has meaning.  They were all either gifted to me, or were my mom's old ornaments, many of which were handmade.  I actually went a bit traditional this year and used red, green and blue lights.  I usually only use pink lights!  But we were out and I didnt want to wait :)

Its kind of hard to see, but at the top of the tree there are two birds.  My mom gave us all these birds for our trees one year, and I got hers when we split up her ornaments.  So now I find it very fitting to have these two birds sit atop my tree.  Those of you who have been following me for a while now, know that the symbol of two birds together means alot to me.  Which is kind of odd thinking about it now, but I have two birds flying together tattooed on my back, which at the time was for me and my mom.  But now, I think its for my mom and my dad.  Gosh, this realization just made me all gooey inside!

I have way too many ornaments to go into details of them all, ha ha.  But some of my alltime favorites are below.  And of course, Bella helps me every year get the ornaments out!

My great grandmother made these little christmas trees.  I have two of them.  She made several, and Im pretty sure all of our family members have one or two.  I love how old fashioned it is.

These four below were all handmade.  The first one was my 1st grade ornament I believe.  The little angel is one of several I made, and still some of my favorites.  The angel and moon my Nanna painted me on my birth year.  And the little santa sitting in the measuring scoop was made by James grandma.  And the horse below was one of James newborn ornaments.

I love these old ornaments.  This porcelain santa was from my moms tree.  His face is cracked and I just adore him.  The acorn was also my moms.  The funny face one was actually made I think by my great grandmother, right Nanna???  And the hair was from their dog!!!  Ha ha!  The other one, Im not sure, but I know its old.  And the glass bell ornament below was my favorite every year to hang on my mom's tree.  I loved the way it shined and sang while you put it up.  My mom always told me to be careful with it b/c it was very special.  I wish I remember now where she said it came from.

These below were all handmade by my mom such a long time ago.  The ice skates Im not positive about, but the rest for sure.  My most favorite ornaments.

The birdie in this one was an anthropologie ornament.  Each year James lets me pick out one special ornament from there.  This year though, I bought my special ornament from Lune Vintage, I cant wait to hang it up!  The peace sign was made by a friend on etsy!

These below were all gifted and/or handmade by etsy artists.  Except the little glass clown.  Two years ago Nanna let me and James pick out an ornament off of her tree to put on ours, and James picked the clown.  So each year now, I save it for the last and let him choose where he wants it on the tree. 

I cant wait to hang our stocking.  I need to find the right hangers for the now that we have a stone fireplace.  I want to get some twinkle lights for our fireplace as well.  Im really starting to look forward to my time off at the end of the month.  I want to bake pies, and have fires in the fireplace and enjoy myself on the couch with a good book and hot chocolate.  Just be.  I think that is my biggest wish this year.  Time to just be.  

What are you wishing for this year for christmas?  Im way more excited about the giving than the getting this year.  

PEACE,

Laura