Christmas Trees

I spend a lot of time decorating Christmas trees at Christmastime. I have so many ornaments - and they all mean so much to me. I need a lot of trees to accommodate my ornament habit (heh).

We tried to go artificial this year in our family room, but the tree we bought just wasn't big enough for the space (and to hold my ornaments). So, we bought a live tree for that room again.

We found the tree at Pikes, and I literally picked it out in about 3 minutes. It is the fastest that I have ever found a tree I liked. Doug and Bri were thrilled! It was a beautiful tree...

The tree with just the lights and garland...

The tree completely decorated...

I have hundreds of ornaments. Literally. They are the memories of my life (and Doug's life and Bri's life). Symbols of my friends and family who have passed, those who are still a part of my life and even those who may not be in my life anymore. Places we've been. Pets that I miss. Things we have done.

I took a few "up close" photos of my tree this past Christmas...

And here is my yearly shot of my tree in the distance. I love my cozy house at Christmastime...

Our China-themed tree...

Instead of sending back the artificial tree that we bought for the family room, we decided to keep it for our master bedroom. The artificial tree that I had been putting the master was getting really old and it was time for it to go. This worked out perfectly. The new tree is really beautiful and it has three light settings.

Bri decorating it...

White lights...

Colored lights...

White and colored lights together...

Mei Mei gave two paws up for the new tree...

This little tree below I made. It is styrofoam painted with green paint. Then I glued on little knick-knacks that I had collected since I was a kid onto it. Now I can look at all my little fun items each Christmas...

In November, my friend Julie and I had a girls night out and painted ceramic trees at our nearby pottery store. It was so much fun...

I went for white with red and green speckles...

It glowed so pretty at night...

My mom also bought me a new ceramic green tree. I love it so much...

And this is the little tree that sits on Bri's dresser in her bedroom...

I also have a white tree that holds all my White House ornaments, but I forgot to take a picture of it. I'm so bummed!

Those are all the trees we had up in the house this past Christmas. They definitely put you in the Christmas mood!

Cirque Du Soleil's Volta

Ok - before I get into all things Christmas, I am first going to write about Cirque du Soleil's Volta. If you have been reading my blog long enough, you know we are big Cirque fans. This year's show was based on extreme sports - which was really cool. We went at the end of November.

Cirque always sets their tent up at Atlantic Station - an open air mall with upscale stores and restaurants.

It was all decorated for Christmas...

We arrived a little early to Atlantic Station, so we people watched at the ice skating rink...

Finally, it was time to walk over to the tent...

In the lobby area...

We were first row - right at the stage...

Opening act...

Hopscotch...

This guy was great! He was the comic relief...

Roller skating...

Unicycle...

Trampoline...

Comic relief act - with washing machines...

This girl was being lifted by her hair (yikes!!)...

Bicycle...

Acrobatics...

Aerial straps...

BMX finale...

The amazing cast...

It was a really cool show! We really enjoyed it! Can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Autumn and Thanksgiving Recap

Dang, I still am so freaking behind on blogging. I'm still not feeling super great (the antibiotics I was on for so long created some side effects), but I'm hoping that I will feel (close to) 100% soon. I'm on the road I think, but it's going to take a while. I'm a work in progress - heh.

So, here is my post about the fall season and Thanksgiving.

I think Mei really, really loves the fall season...

(Click on the collages below to make them larger if you need too.)

I love decorating my house in the autumn...

This was the outside of my house...

So many colorful, pretty trees in my neighborhood...

And the trees were pretty around town too...

We finally got a brand new dining room table. Doug and I could never agree on what we liked in the stores, so we had one custom made and we love it. It came a week before Thanksgiving...

Of course, Bri and I had to go paint dad's Christmas mug at our favorite pottery place. He looks forward to a new mug each year. She made him a Tesla mug...

Bri and I also joined my mom, sister and aunt for our yearly excursion to our favorite fall craft fair...

Thanksgiving rolled around and I hosted dinner once again. It was so nice having our brand new table. My aunt and uncle joined us for dinner and it was so nice having the added family...

Right after Thanksgiving, Bri's bestie Mary had her birthday party. The party goers got to learn all about aerial silks. Bri had a lot of fun...

The cousins always get early Christmas goodies on Thanksgiving evening that they can take into the holiday season...

So my next few posts will be all about Christmas. Christmas in February - yay! LOL!