Xmas Begins

We gave ourselves a day after Thanksgiving to clean up but after that the tree went up! We have the perfect spot for a Christmas tree at the new house so I've been waiting to try it out. I wasn't disappointed! 

Unfortunately this photo opportunity was side tracked when Nolan refused to put on clothes (he had just come in from the hot tub) so all of our decorating the tree pics are of him in his batman undies. I might end up using this as our Christmas card so act surprised! ;)

Pat and I continued our tradition of buying each other an ornament that symbolizes our last year together. Now with 11 years worth of ornaments we no longer have room for "filler" ornaments aka plain bulbs. We also hang all the ones that the kids have made and of course the babies first Christmas collectibles (you can see Miles' rocking horse just above Nolan's head in the picture above) making our Christmas tree a time capsule for us. It's my absolute favorite tradition! This year, to symbolize us buying a house I got Pat this birdhouse, which has double meaning since we keep uncovering more and more bird feeders, birdhouses, nests and bird garden decor. The previous owners must have REALLY loved birds! Pat had an ornament made that had a picture of our kitty Tezzy since we lost him this year. I love that he will always be on our tree since he practically lived in our Christmas tree.

Miles loves the Christmas tree! Mostly he likes taking the garland and flowers down, we call it Miles flare.

He is also enjoying taste testing all the ornaments. This bell ornament felt good on his gums. Fun fact: this is also the first ornament Pat gave to me. He didn't know it was supposed to symbolize anything at that time, he picked it because it said the year on it. It is the kids' favorite ornament though!

This wreath ornament pinched, so it was not a favorite! This is also one of Pat's ornaments that he gave me the year I made everyone wreaths for Christmas...he's gotten better at this over the years!

The broken/damaged ornament count is currently at 3. Luckily we kept the glass ones up high so any damage was easily fixed with a little hot glue. Except for Nolan's salt dough hand print ornament which now has a lovely bite taken out of it. We have moved all ornaments to the top half for now but appreciate Miles attempts to add his personal touch to the tree.