Our sweet Christmas tree

Today I stare at our Christmas tree as I know in just a few days it will be time to take it down.  Our tree is special to me because each and every ornament reminds me of a moment in time of happiness.  While I would love to have one of those amazing trees with perfectly matching ribbon and ornaments, I could never ever have any other type of tree than ours.  Of course it leans a little, the lights constantly go out, and the Angel always looks as though she may take flight at any moment...but that is what we love.  Each year putting up the tree is like opening hundreds of tiny presents.  Sure, each ornament I have seen a thousand times before, but the smile each one brings never gets old.  We have ornaments from every vacation since I was a child.  We have ornaments from each year since I was little.  We have ornaments hand made by those we love.  We have macaroni framed ones and play dough ones from schools.  We have all of "baby's first Christmas".  We have old car keys on ribbons from cars we treasured.  We have stuffed McDonald toys from my Grandma from Happy Meals growing up.  We even have broken ornaments that may be in a million pieces, but hang with pride in baggies as they still bring a smile.  My heart is so happy with our tree even though tears come when I see handwriting from loved ones who have gone to be with Jesus or students of ours that were taken to Heaven early.  So blessed to have something that continues to remind us year after year of the happy times and blessings in our lives.  Oh and yes, no presents under the tree because Baylor loves to unwrap all the presents as soon as we are not looking.  Regardless, what a beautiful and perfect tree we have!