As you all know, I go all out when it comes to decorating my house for Christmas. I have a LOT of stuff. I am so sentimental. I want to display all the things that mean something to me. I must have a gazillion ornaments ~ each and every one tell a different story. That is why I have multiple trees. I have a really hard time parting with things (though I did bring a box full of old Christmas stuff to Goodwill after Christmas - so yay me!).
First, Bri and I decorate the tree in my upstairs master sitting area (as well as a miniature tree in her bedroom and small tree in her playroom)...
Then, we pick out a live tree for our family room. Briana picked our tree this year and she really did an amazing job...
I string the lights on the real tree. You can see we have a new BB8 droid. Doug and Bri had fun driving it through the lights...
I decorate the live tree while Bri is in school. Decorating live trees is not for sissies. If you put an ornament with a little weight to it on a live tree that has weak branches, that branch ends up looking like the Charlie Brown tree...
It can be kind of frustrating. But once I figure it all out and it is finished, it is totally worth it...
I hung an ornament on the main tree in memory of my friend Carole. It was a hard one to put up. But, it was comforting seeing her each day during the season...
Bri and I then decorated our China-themed tree...
Briana put together our new Christmas Lego set to add to our Lego village...
I collect White House ornaments. It started when Doug and I bought two ornaments (years 1998 and 1999) while we visited Washington DC a couple of years after we got married. Doug's grandmother then started sending us one each year. After she passed, Doug's aunt continued the tradition and still does to this day. I now have 18 White House ornaments (1998-2015). I decided that with 18 ornaments, it was time to get a separate little tree (they get swallowed up on the big tree). And here it is (I think I am going to get red and blue bows for the tree next year)...
My Christmas cactus bloomed again this past Christmas. It only got two buds (it is a really old plant), but it keeps on blooming...
Briana worked on foam projects again this year...
And she decorated a gingerbread house...
Doug did an amazing job putting the lights outside...
So it was time to pass the torch. I passed along Asia's stocking and stocking holder to Mei Mei. I taped the picture that I had of Asia to the bottom of the holder and put Mei's picture in the frame instead. And Bri asked me to take out her baby picture and replace it with a current picture in her stocking holder.
Here is how it turned out...
