Tree Decoration

We put up the tree tonight. I am truly sorry that Nathan missed this. Natalee was such a riot. I got it all set and ready to go before she came home from school so that she could just put the ornaments on. Can you tell how tall she is? Somewhere around the 44 inch mark there seems to be a cluster of some sort. Maybe I'll fix it, maybe I won't.
My tree is a conglomerate of ornaments that I've collected over the years. Some of them I've just picked up because I thought they were cute, but most of them really mean something to me. As Natalee was unwrapping each ornament she'd squeal and say, "Look Mom! Remember this one? I love this one! It's my favorite!" It was so sweet. But I started to look at them and wondered which one was my favorite. I couldn't pick just one, but here are a few of the top:
This was the ornament we got in 1996, the year we were married. They had some at Hallmark that were pretty, like with cut glass and cursive, but this seemed more "us". Two chunky little mice, hugging a piece of cheese, sitting on a moon of cheese. That's us, right?

We got this one in 1999, the year we bought this house. We must like mice. These are the only two mouse ornaments on the tree, I promise. No, I lied, I have some Mickey Mouse ornaments. Ok, I like mice...I'm not ashamed! Anyway, I loved this one with the bow on the door. We'd basically gone without Christmas (the gift part) in 1998 so that we could save everything to get into the house. This reminds me how blessed we are.


We got this ornament in 2002 when Natalee was 6 days old. We'd also named her that same day. Anyway, this was a present from the Parent Support Group at the NICU and it came with a really cute snowflake poem. Every year we get her a new snowflake for her birthday. Tonight as she was taking them out she said, "Oh look mom, it's another one of my snowflakes....they're beautiful."


This one reminds me how mindful the Lord is of us. I always looked at other people's "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments and wanted them for my children. When Natalee was born, I finally got around to remember that was something that I wanted about February and all the ornaments for 2002 were long gone. It became a huge regret of mine that I'd never have one of those for my daughter.
In the fall of 2003 I was in a store that was going out of business and what did they happen to have in the mounds of stuff they were trying to get rid of? Yep! A baby's first Christmas ornament dated 2002. It was unreal. It wasn't the cutest one I'd ever seen, but I'd have given them $100 for it. Thankfully, I think it was around $3, but still, I couldn't believe it. I felt so blessed that day.

This is the only ornament on my tree with a name. We call her "One Eyed Mary." Isn't she strange? Strange but precious. Mom and Dad sent me this from Armenia when they were on their mission. Every time I look at her I think of their sacrifice and love for us. I still keep it in the paper mom wrapped it in when she sent it to me; a resume from an Armenia (man, I think) named Karapet Gevorgyan. I have no idea who is he, but I know he was somebody my parents were trying to help find a job. They were on a mission to help people better themselves through finding employment. Their sacrifice and service helped save people...in the fiscal sense anyway. Mary's sacrifice saved us all, in the literal sense. So eventhough she makes me laugh, she reminds me of sacrifice and service.
This last one reminds me to not take myself so seriously at this time of year. I was serving in Young Women's when this ornament fell into my lap and it easily could have ruined my day. However, I was able to laugh off the situation and instead of throwing it away, I kept it as a reminder. Nothing is so bad it can't be fixed. Things happen that you didn't want to deal with. Forgive people and love them.

After we were done with the tree, I asked Natalee to put out the Nativity scene and this is how she placed the pieces. I've always put Mary, Joseph and Jesus at the forefront, everyone else kind of circling them, and the animals at their side. Natalee has placed the family in the stable, with the animals and the rest of the people looking in. What a sweet blessing she is in my life. I'll probably move some of the ornaments on the tree, but I'm definantly

leaving this as she did it.

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord!