A Sincere Christmas Tree

In years past I have prided myself on putting together a gorgeous Christmas tree.  I thought I was pretty awesome.  This photo was taken by our Uncle Buz when he was photographing us for our Christmas card several years ago, and this was me having fun posing (while he was trying to get the right lighting---I'm SO helpful, huh?).  Anyhow, take a look at the tree.

I used all red and gold balls and other shapes, and tucked poinsettias into the branches here and there.  I strung ribbon all around the tree, and I think there are 6 strands of lights on that tree, too!

Flash forward several years...

I feel lucky to have even gotten a tree up this year at all.  I was starting to get very "Grinchy" and was thinking "why even get a Christmas tree this year?"  It's too much work.  It's a hassle.  I'll have to keep the baby away from it.  The tree will shed all over the ground.  Decorating it will take days.  Ughh.  Bah humbug.



But we did get a tree, you see.  A sincere tree.  As we were searching through the Christmas tree tent, my husband kept repeating,  "we need a sincere tree."  I wanted a perfect tree.  Decorated with perfect gold and red balls and a million strands of lights.  He wanted a sincere one.

I decided to approach the tree a bit differently this year.  When several strands of lights weren't working, I settled for only 3 strands of lights, though my sweet husband  was happy to labor fixing the duds.  And you know what else?  Those red and gold balls stayed right where they'd been stored all year.  I only added "family" ornaments to the tree--the very ones that had been neglected throughout the years of my quest for a perfect tree.  I didn't add any embellishments, either--no topper, no ribbon, no poinsettias.

The first ornament I added was the one my husband made for me several years ago with our dog's paw print in the center.  It was his idea to create this clay ornament for me the year we challenged each other to spend only $10 on each other for Christmas.

This is the pink pig I bought for our little Junebug this year.  It's my new tradition to buy her a new pink pig ornament every year.  Why a pink pig?  I dunno.  Maybe because they're silly and fun, just like her.

This gorgeous ornament was handmade by a dear friend when we lived up north.  All hand-stitched.  This Santa is truly a treasure.

Here's Junebug's first Christmas ornament--a gift from my mom last year.  How precious are those little booties?  I can only imagine that they'll  become more and more precious to me as years go by.

And my tree skirt.  Oh, the tree skirt.  Through our 6-and-a-half years of marriage (yes, we're still counting halves!), I have never bought a tree skirt.  I wrap this old skirt of my grandmother's around the tree-stand, just like Linus did with his blanket on Charlie Brown's sincere tree.

This little girl in her Dalmatian footie pajamas doesn't care that our tree isn't "perfect" like one in a Pottery Barn catalogue.  She points to it and calls it "pretty" several times a day with wonder and amazement in her eyes. 

It doesn't get more sincere than that.