A glimpse of the tree

One of my favorite ornaments.

I had it custom made in 2007 at the Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel, Oregon. I have tried and tried to find the gal that did them so I could order more, to no avail. On the back it says "Our First Christmas, 2007".

When Jonathan and I got married, we both came with a lot of "stuff". Literally. His house was full, my house was full. We both had/have lots of things that come with accumulating stuff over time. Since neither of us hadn't moved in the last 7 years (and Jonathan since 1986), we had a good deal of all kinds of stuff.

Part of the process of cleaning out the house, especially since my house sold and the last of my stuff moved down, is culling through everything - deciding what's important to keep. Letting go of the rest. Not easy to do. Time consuming is an understatement.

And for the holidays?

We have a ton of holiday stuff.

And I was used to having my gold tree with white lights. No colored lights. Ever. I am not a fan of colored lights.

In December 2007, I was getting ready to marry a man who had blue icicle lights on his house - still hanging from Christmas 2006.

So the holiday negotiating began. Honoring all the Christmases he had spent in the house. While having a gold tree. :)

When it was all said and done, I could have two trees, with the gold tree in the living room. He could have a small 'man tree' in the kitchen.

Enter the sisters.

Debbie, Kathie and Cindy. These incredibly fabulous ladies don't know how to give a small gift. When they asked what they could give us for our wedding, I asked for Seahawks ornaments in blue and green for Jonathan's tree.

I did not expect a six layer ornament box filled with blue, green, and silver ornaments. It was incredible. Many were hand painted in the style of the ornaments we sold for our Relay For Life team. There were a handful of blown glass blue & green ornaments.

Incredibly beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful.

Because that's how the sisters roll.

And so, the gold tree has now become the small tree in the kitchen, and the Seahawks tree is now front and central in the living room.

Once the house is ready for the Tree Shindig next weekend, I'll pull out the camera. I pimped out a silver wreath that I picked up at Costco, and can't wait to show you what it looks like (a custom Seahawks wreath).

So for now, there's a sneak peek of the tree above.

I'm going to go work on the living room and bask in the light of the tree.

It is awesome.

And Advent begins tomorrow!