It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We put our tree up over the weekend. I realize that for some people getting the tree up on the 11th of December is early, but for a girl who grew up getting the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving (yes, some years we even had it decorated before December 1), the 11th feels terribly late. I don't feel Christmassy until the tree is up, and since it's one of my favorite seasons, I like getting the tree up sooner rather than later!

It's a far cry from last year's flat tree, don't you think?!

Both boys seem to feel the need to get up close and personal with the tree...
Bear wanted to open a present right away, and was a bit bewildered when we explained that "Christmastime" is not the same as "Christmas Day."
Wolf said that now that the tree is up he is having a much harder time waiting for Christmas.

I mentioned last year that we have a tradition surrounding our ornaments--we each have a personalized ornament, and then we have (or are collecting) ornaments from each country where our ancestors are from. So this year, since I am actually in the same state with my ornaments, I thought I'd share some pictures (did you know that it's really hard to get a decent photo of a christmas tree ornament? They sway too much to use the slow-shutter that is on the light-filter setting, but the coloring comes out very yellow with the rapid-shutter setting...)

"Our First Christmas" (there's a little metal tag on the top that says "2003") Waterford Crystal from Ireland (a gift when we were engaged--our wedding was just a few days before Christmas).

Wolf (angel) and Bear (bear). They look funny cuz I used the paint program to cover their names to post the photos here... both ornaments were purchased when the boy was a baby. No, we don't have one for Eagle yet. I'm inclined to go out after Christmas and find one on sale--is that bad of me?!

I got angel ornaments for my angel babies--the bear for Thomas, the ball for Kjersti (it has l.e.d. lights so the angel changes color...)

Mine (my parents got it for me when I was little) and Hubby's--no, his doesn't have his name on it, but his ornament also happens to double as our Norway ornament...

wood shaving star ~ Germany
straw goat ~ Finland
(wooden) heart basket ~ Denmark