Christmas is only a couple of days away, and like most people I’m frantically trying to get everything wrapped up, both literally and figuratively. One thing I didn’t get to this year was the full-on holiday decor explosion that typically happens: the little purple tinsel tree on the dining room table, the bright mod glass garland dressing up the boring old chandelier, and a second smaller fake tree decorated with every keepsake ornament from my husband’s childhood. But we did, of course, get the tall and awesome-smelling Fraser fir, and it’s taken over half the living room with all its shiny glorious-ness:
My favorite thing about our tree is that it’s a hodge-podge of different ornaments, and isn’t at all matchy matchy. I love the keepsake tree (although it’s in the attic this year), and have designs on another themed one, but I’ll always have a unique scrapbook-like tree. And with that, here are some of my favorite ornaments.
Purple has been a constant with the tree, and my favorite is this big blown-glass teardrop. It’s one of a pair I found six or seven years ago on a New Year’s trip to Eureka Springs (a cute little Ozark town three or so hours north of Little Rock), and frankly I’m amazed I haven’t broken either of them. But I love the rich color and the way the lights hit the glass.
I found this Christopher Radko pirate skeleton (“Bad to the Bone”) ornament on the same trip, at the same little Christmas-themed shop whose name I cannot remember. Clearly this is from a Halloween collection (right?), but I couldn’t pass up having a glittery pirate skeleton on my tree. (Also? This stuff is never on sale, and an after-Christmas sale in a Christmas store is magical!)
The other Radko ornament on the tree is this fun little (glittery) dog bone with “Joyeux Noel” written (in glitter) across it. I’m pretty sure I talked my mom into getting this for her “granddogs” (her words, not mine) during a Christmas shopping trip a few years ago.
Although I feel certain that the “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments rank as the most-given ornament, I’m pretty sure “Our First Christmas” comes in at a close second. What do you do if you get like, 10 or 12 of them? We only received four or five, and this one, from my mom, is obviously tops. The woman is an arts and crafts fair aficionado, and had this one made on one such epic excursion. I especially love my Lady GaGa hair bow.
My other favorite “First Christmas” ornament is this one from my aunt. It’s a pair of lovebirds from Old World Christmas, with vibrant hand-painted colors, and I appreciate the unique take on the tradition.
Most of my “background” ornaments are standard silver balls (of which there are officially too many), but this mercury glass-style ornament gives a good texture balance to the other silver pieces. This retro one is from a Thomas O’Brien for Target set I got a couple of years ago.
This is one of the few ornaments my husband brought to the table when we put our first tree up—a cast-iron replica of the original Batmobile, from Hallmark’s keepsake line. We have a 1990s Batmobile too, but I think this one is way cooler.
Matt also had a few Star Trek ornaments, also from Hallmark, so I decided to start a tradition and buy him whatever Star Trek ornaments are new each year. And not just because he’s really hard to shop for. Some were just too heavy to hang on the branches of this tree (like the one with the cooing Tribbles falling onto Captain Kirk), but one of my favorites that made it up is, of course, Khan. While I much prefer the “Ricardo Montalban Beyond Thunderdome” version of Khan in Star Trek II, original series Khan also rocks.
And it’s this particular collection of ornaments that has me on the lookout for a new little tree to put all of them on next year. Specifically, I want a 4-5 foot silver tree to put up in my husband’s office and cover it with Star Trek ornaments. And he’s not exactly opposed to the idea, either. Part of the problem with some of the “magic” ornaments that move and/or make noises is that not only are they heavy, the older ones that plug into the lights for power don’t work with our new LED lights.
But mostly I just think it would be a kick-ass tree.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
