Christmas Decorations!!

As I've said before, I'm a fan of seasonal decorations, so it should come as no surprise that a pretty steadfast tradition of mine is that Christmas decorations go up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Not before that and definitely not afterward! It's something I look forward to every year as the holidays approach.

We play our favorite Christmas tunes all over the house on our sounds system and go to work making our house feel merry and bright! Brad and I have our jobs that we've kind of fallen into over the years. He puts up the tree (pre-strung, thank-you-very-much, I hate stringing lights) and I put up all the household decorations (dining room table centerpiece, seasonal kitchen towels, candy bowls, and other chachkies that I can only handle in my way only grace our home for Christmas). By the time I'm done with that, Brad is done with the tree and it's time to trim it with our ornaments!!

This is by far my favorite part!!! My mom started another tradition with me from my very first Christmas where I get a new ornament for the tree every year. By now, I've built up a pretty good stock. Brad never did this with his family but as soon as we moved in together and had our first Christmas tree together, I started getting him an ornament each year for Christmas. I love unwrapping each year's ornament and remembering when I got it, what it signified and why it was special. Here are a few of my favorites:

This is the Christmas ornament I gave Brad this year. He is a Starbucks NUT. He loves coffee in general but really drools over Starbucks. I thought this ornament was adorable and very fitting.

This ornament is from a Hallmark series called "Puppy Love." Every year they come out with a different puppy breed doing something cute and Christmas-y. My mom started getting these for me because I've always loved dogs. The series started in 1991 and I have every one of them!

Here is another "Puppy Love" ornament. Neither of these are this year's but I think they are both super cute!

This is one of the first ornaments I got for Brad. If you can't read it, it says "3Basic Food Groups" and underneath is a platter with wine, cheese and chocolate. If you know Brad, you get why this is very appropriate.

These are little porcelain ballet slippers. My grandparents got them for me when I was 9 years old. On the bottom of each slipper my name is painted in silver along with the year I received them. These are so special to me and one of my favorite childhood ornaments.

This ornament is from our first Christmas after we were married. My mom actually gave this to us and on the silver the phrase "First Christmas Together" is engraved and the little red heart in the middle says "2006," which is the year we were married.

This ornament marks another milestone. I found this the year we bought our house. We were so in love with this house and so proud of the purchase. It's in the shape of a key with a little doorway on it and it says "New Home 2008."

And, finally, this is my very first ornament. It is a teddy bear holding a block that says "Baby's First Christmas 1982." It's plastic and old (as old as me!) but it's so special. And it makes me think of the ornament we will be getting our little girl for her first Christmas next year.

Hope everyone is enjoying the start of the holiday season as much as I am! Do you have any plans to get your decorations up? Or are they already up? Do you have any particular favorites you'd like to share?