O Christmas Tree! O Christmas tree!

A strange thing happened this year. Charlie suggested we put up the Christmas tree early. Before he could change his mind, I agreed! This has never happened before. Every other year in the eight or so years that we’re living together, Charlie has insisted that we wait for December 8th to put up the tree.

Not this year though. For some reason he wanted to put it up early, and hey, I’d have the tree up all winter long if I was allowed!!

So down came the tree and the decorations from the attic. Without a doubt this is one of my absolute favourite traditions in our house. Opening the box and unwrapping the ornaments one by one. I started collecting Christmas tree ornaments many years ago, and each one has a story – bought in a certain place, or while shopping with a certain person, or a gift from someone special.

There are the beaded decorations I picked up in South Africa.

Then there’s the snowman I bought in Toronto while shopping with my wonderful friend Tammy.

There’s the boat my Dad gave me…

…and the nativity scene from my Mam.

I love the beautiful Waterford Crystal ornament from my friend Laura.

And I think the newest soft ornaments that Little Man picked out are adorable.

For the finishing touches we have a wonderfully festive train that runs in a circle around the base of the tree – a gift from Charlie’s Mam, and without a doubt Little Man’s favourite thing about the tree!

And finally of course, we have the star on top. It took me years to find the perfect tree topper. I found this one about four or five years ago but it was astronomically priced so I walked away from it reluctantly. Months and months later I found it vastly reduced in a sale and I snatched it up!

It took a few hours this morning, but by 10am, our tree was up, and now we’re all set for a visit from Santa!