A Christmas Tree in Review

One of our family traditions since before I can remember is getting a new Christmas tree ornament each Christmas. My brothers and I each had a series that we collected and we would always get that one and often others each year.  My Mum would diligently pack each ornament away at the end of December into 3 separate tubs one for each kid.  This year as we set up our first tree my Mum came over with my tub of ornaments.  Garret was completely shocked that the entire tub was mine.  (personally I just think he is jealous that he doesn't have a pile of his own ornaments...maybe I should get him some this year?)

Since I have 32 years of collecting ornaments under my belt I have to say that I have amassed quite the collection. I didn't want to overwhelm our tree so I just picked a few to see the light of day this year. (also part of the decision making process is we only had a few ornament hangers and I couldn't be bothered buying more. I am becoming a cheapskate in my old age I guess)

[caption id="attachment_1153" align="aligncenter" width="388"] My maid of honour got me this as a Christmas present this year. I bought ornaments for her two girls so she bought us one for our fur baby[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1154" align="aligncenter" width="388"] This has been my favourite ornament forever. It says 1980 on the door so that is a fave for quite a while. You can see a little chipmunk inside setting up his own tree. LOVE IT![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1155" align="aligncenter" width="388"] This is an ornament that my Nana Shaw(who died before I was born) made for my Dad. I thought it was so super special when I was a kid and I loved that my Mum gave it to me. It says "Love Mom 1977" on the back.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1156" align="aligncenter" width="388"] This one is new this year as well! My MIL found it in her travels and it reminded her of Brooklyn. Note the cute little tutu![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1157" align="aligncenter" width="388"] From my Mum last Christmas...first year in our new home![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1158" align="aligncenter" width="388"] This one my friend Lauren made me in 1991! This made it on also by default for coming with it's own ribbon[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1159" align="aligncenter" width="388"] First Christmas together! My friend Erin M got me into the s'mores decorations a few years ago...how cute are they?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1160" align="aligncenter" width="388"] This guy is from a few years ago[/caption]

The series that I collected are called Mary's Angels I adore them but can see why Garret might not want a tree chock full o' angels.  So they will stay in the Christmas tub for this year.

I do love it when I see the gorgeous themed trees that people do each year, but I am not sure if I will ever be able to bring myself to do that.  One of my favourite Christmas memories is when we would set up our tree. My brothers and I would pull out each ornament and reminisce about them and funny other stories of Christmas past.  This is definitely a tradition I would love to keep up with our future Walsh offspring.

 

 

 

 

 

End of "NO"vember

Garret and I had tried our best to make November a "No"-vember. I have to be honest and say it wasn't a full on "NO" but more so of a "less"vember. Does that count for anything? I made more of an effort with meal planning and when we grocery shopped I bought sandwich stuff so that if we didn't have leftovers from dinner we could bring sandwiches for lunch. We have both been doing Isagenix shakes for breakfast so that has seriously limited the Great Canadian Bagel/Tim Hortons runs. I have definitely treated myself to a coffee on a few mornings (and I am SURE G has too) but at least I stopped the habit that we had formed. We went on a date to the movies, and then each went once separately, but I had some remaining dollars on gift cards from last Christmas (super surprise to find that when cleaning out my wallet!--see Mum being unorganized sometimes can lead to awesomeness/free movies) We ate out a couple of times, but did it on a special cheap wing night, and planned for it as opposed to just being super lazy and ordering pizza. The night that Brooklyn got sick we ordered pizza but that I feel can be given a pass. All in all review---if we can just keep this organized at least with food and making coffee etc then we are good. As for the not spending, we did buy a dog and then spent the GNP of Sweden to ransom her back from the Vet but those were clearly not planned costs.
Our goal is to move into December and try to keep planning ahead! We have made a list of all our Christmas gifts and have got a good headstart on buying them so we can avoid the mall rush and the impulse buying that comes with late season shopping. We have really pared down our list for others, and this year our gift to each other is our healthy dog. The Turdmeister.  NOTHING is going on credit cards this year so this whole planning ahead thing is going to come in handy!
How is everyone else doing with their shopping? Anyone done yet?