O tannenbaum, o tannenbaum

Like I've mentioned before, I do love me some Christmastime. Instead of sharing all my decorations together in one post like I did at Halloween, I'll break it up a little to show more detail, and also since my Christmas decorations are more, ahem, elaborate. Something about home decorating and me, that I've noticed, is I'm getting somewhat better at it over the years (and I guess having an actual income helps too. Hurray for incomes!). So, on this trajectory, I should be an HGTV featured designer by 3011!! SCORE.

I do a 'theme' of reds, ivories, and golds on the tree (and in most of my decor) for the holiday, mixing in more sentimental and meaningful ornaments, which are my fave. I would love (LOVE) to do a matchy-matchy themed tree, and a separate 'sentimental' tree, but alas, there is limited room at Casa del Claire. That being said, I do love my tree.

Side story (AS ALWAYS): My neighbor came over to drop off some extra cake the other day (YES I LOVE MY NEIGHBOR OMG) and wanted a holiday tour of my decorations (more like, I twisted her arm into coming to see my holiday decorations) and was all, "Did you study design?" "I should have brought my camera!" etc. etc. She is such a sweetheart! If you knew her, you'd know it was her personality to be so complimentary (AND BRING YOU CAKE OMG) but still, warms the heart (tear).

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments...

At first, you may think this is an ordinary family of snowmen...

BUT THINK AGAIN. It is not. It is a handprint!

Dylan made this in 1st grade and I love. love. LOVE it. So sweet, and such a nice commemoration of his childhood hand print!

Next on the list is one my mother-in-law gifted us back in '08.

"Bears?" you may be asking yourself. "Is this some type of representation of your love of bear-hunting, or bear-wrestling?" My response is: No. Bear-wrestler, I am not. However, we  do refer to each other as [insert name]-bear in our family, so this is a nod to just that. And perhaps the one time I wrestled a bear to the ground AND WON. Anyways it's a cute family ornament, and the first one commemorating our family together. So, it is on my list of favorites.

Moving along and far past the bear-wrestling thing... if you know me, you know I love the ocean. This deep-rooted appreciation for all things nautical is certainly represented in my holiday tree, as in here and here:

Side story #232904: The Sea Turtle Hospital of Topsail Beach, NC is awesome, both to visit and for the work they do. Once you learn of the kajillion predators that sea turtles have, the arduous journey they have to sea once born, on top of the fact that their moms just, like, leave them there to hatch on their own and all, it's amazing these poor things survive. AND THEN THE HUMANS COME ALONG AND TURN LIGHTS ON TO LEAD THEM AWAY FROM THE OCEAN AND POLLUTE AND RUN MOTOR BOATS AND HARM THEM. Geeze. 

Back to my point: so I love nautical ornaments but this is my favorite:

This is my favorite, because, like the bear ornament, it represents one of my favorite hobbies. 

So on that note, happy holidays. I hope your preparations and festivities are enjoyable, and also stress- and crazy-Republican-uncle-free. And filled with cake-bringing neighbors. 

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