a sentimental tree.

my husband is sentimental.

i am too... but different sentimental.
he has informed me that no matter how much money we had, he NEVER wants me to replace my wedding ring.
(this does make me a little sad, because i don't love my ring... i knew what i wanted- a solitaire princess cut.  but i was too wimpy to tell him when he asked.  So, he designed one, that has these ramps leading up to my ROUND diamond.  bread dough always gets stuck under the ramps... and so, sometimes i dream of a new ring.  now, i would pick out a cool, antique looking ring.  BUT, i respect his sentimentality.  And, i do love remembering the first time he pulled my ring from the box and asked me to marry him... even though i told him to put the ring away.  i just had to digest "marry me" without "oh, what a pretty ring."  Later that night i told him he could show me the ring... and i pretended to drop it in the creek at Thanksgiving point.  oh, what a weirdo i was am.  I love the thought of my ring... even if i don't love the ring itself.)

AND, he was sentimentally attached to the star we put on top of our Christmas tree.
Even though it was card board... and falling apart... and small... and cheap.

He said, "Let's always keep this, to remember our first Christmases together."
i thought, let's throw this away so we don't seem POOR forever.

but, we compromised-- see why we have such a great marriage?

our old star fell apart... we duct taped a different star to the stand, sprayed it silver, and hot glued the sweet gold star to the front.

and this year, we are both happy.
i love the sentiment AND the fact that we don't have this tiny star on a fat tree
(insert tommy boy singing "fat guy in a little coat).

i love Christmas.
i love my kids pulling out the ornaments and remembering years past.

[i always write the dates on the bottom with a sharpie... for the first 5 years of our marriage i would buy each kid an ornament every year for Christmas... fun, expensive ornaments of their favorite things-- Hallmark has the best.  and then, i would write their name and the year.  we don't do this any more... it cost us too much.  if i was ok with homemade ornaments or cheap ornaments i could have stuck with it... i did love that tradition.  and, i envisioned giving them a box of ornaments when they married with their ornaments from the past years... sounds fun huh?!]

i love that now, my tree is FULL, almost too full...
i remember years of scarce Christmas trees... after 15 years of marriage and 6 kids, we are officially a full tree family.

we have old school ornaments and handmade ornaments and broken ornaments that we keep because they were our first.

we have ornaments from my grandmother who has since passed away.
we have ornaments from the years of Mom, Dad, Jakob and Drew...

Dora ornaments and Batman and cute antique ornaments that i bought at world market's after Christmas clearance last year for a quarter.

This year, i had my kids help make a few more ornaments...
glitter pine cones...

and string balls.

You see, i've had pine cones and Styrofoam balls for the past 5 years... i always have plans to make something with them and i never do.
This year, i'm in a JUST DO IT mentality.
And so i did.
It takes less time to just do the things that i think about then it does to think about it 100 times and never do it.
And, it brings me JOY.

Maybe, next year I won't even want glitter pine cones on my tree... but this year, they make me smile.
I don't put up the 100's of homemade gingerbread men that i have saved from years past...
or the rusted stars i scoured Lubbock for last year when i was envisioning my Texas tree...

i don't love the stuffed-heart ornaments that i made the first year we were married... but i love hanging one of them on my tree, and remembering that year.
and, Styrofoam balls are much better hanging on my tree than sitting in my craft room.

What project are you thinking about?
My advice-- just do it.  Yes, your life might be messy for a little while, but at the end of the night it will all be cleaned and you will spend the next few weeks just smiling whenever you see what you created.
i LOVE holidays.  don't you?

Even when we're left with an AFTER the fun mess...