My Kind of Christmas

You can tell a lot about a person by what they use to decorate their Christmas tree. (If they celebrate Christmas at all, I mean.) I love seeing people's personalities come through in their trees- like my eccentric friend from middle school who had an aluminum metallic blue tree covered with green and white lights, or my sweet old Nonny with her gorgeous porcelain angel topper and handmade ornaments from when my brother and I were kids.

I personally love the tacky. BRING ON THE TACKY, BABY. I want rainbow lights, I want tinsel, I want very shiny ornaments made with glitter and thin metallic glass. I want candy canes and reindeer shaped candles and that plastic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ornament from when I was five. The topper needs to be a star, preferably made with some sort of hard shiny plastic, and covered in rainbow lights that match the tree. (Bonus points if it blinks!)

BEHOLD! The product of my deliciously tacky taste:

Lily is obsessed with it, to say the least. I keep finding strange items hidden inside the tree (usually around the same spot.) So far I've found a half eaten bread roll, a stuffed duck, a candy cane wrapper, and the ribbon I use to tie the curtains closed- all carefully tucked into the branches amongst the lights and ornaments. She also loves standing close enough to a glass ornament that she can see her warped reflection in it and give herself a kiss/quick chat.

We have a big Santa style bag in the back seat of the car filled with new toys to wrap and put under the tree. I'm really grateful to be able to have these, especially in a time where money sucks! (Does money ever NOT suck? I can't imagine such a world, haha :) )

I'm fourteen weeks along and already in my second trimester. (WHAAAT?!) It is so freaking true what they say about a second pregnancy in that it goes by much, much quicker because you are so focused on the little one already running around. Lily watches A Baby Story with me every week day, and every time it shows a baby she gets very excited and yells, "baby!" She's going to be such a great big sister. :) For now she's just anxious to see what all this Christmas fuss is all about!

Putting the tree up the day after Thanksgiving wasn't enough for me, of course. I also had to hang a glittery gold garland with ornaments on it all around the living room and insist on baking random things even when I don't have the ingredients for them. Like yesterday when I made sugar cookies, even though I had no butter like the recipe called for so I just used oil instead. For the record, they look incredible and taste terrible.

If you celebrate Christmas, what types of ornaments do you like to use on your tree? Any specific tastes?