Ornamentation Orientation

I love. love. love. Christmas! (Did I mention the part about my loving Christmas? Okay, good.)

Even with this immense love, I'm not one to go crazy on decorations. Don't get me wrong, we have quite a few (since we got married around Christmas--second anniversary coming up next week, in fact--we were able to register for Christmas items, which was nice) but I'm not extravagant. Our tree is pretty simple and most of the ornaments we have on it are meaningful, not just store-bought, generic ones. So I thought I'd highlight a few of my faves.

Just for fun (and to avoid any favoritism...you know how jealous ornaments can be!) I'll try to go in the order we acquired them.

This one I made while in college at one of those paint-it-yourself pottery places. I worked super super hard on it and am quite proud of it. It is one of the few times that the vision I had in my head actually translated to the finished product.

I got this one in Switzerland when I was studying abroad. We visited a glass factory where this was handmade. I think it's lovely.

Also featured in this picture: a giraffe being a creeper in the background.

My mother-in-law got us this one in honor of our first Christmas together. I think it's pretty darn cute.

We have a whole set of these ornaments made out of tree bark (are you noticing the snowflake theme? I love snow as much as Christmas.) We got these on our honeymoon to Jackson Hole. It's a wonder that I wanted to have an ornament that would remind me of our disastrous honeymoon.

This little bear/fish combo (he's holding the fish in his hands) comes from Big Bear Lake in California, where we went as a honeymoon do-over. Minus the parasailing, it proved to be a better trip (though one could argue--what could have been worse? There was nowhere to go but up.)

I think this one is adorable. I love s'mores so he has a special place in my heart. I find the sock monkey to be random, but adds that touch of whimsy that I like. We adopted him on our first anniversary trip that we took to Gruene. Next week we're going to Salado on our second anniversary trip & we'll be sure to add another ornament to our collection!