Deckin' the Halls

We have a Christmas tradition that Mark and I started way back in 1994 for our first Christmas together. Every year when we decorate the tree, we exchange ornaments. Mark and I pick out ornaments for the boys, and then we each take the boys out to get ornaments for each of us. We try to find ornaments that say something about the year - something the boys were into, a trip we took, or maybe just something really cool looking. Like the Lunar Module ornament Mark got me the year I was sooooo into the From the Earth to the Moon series. Or Daniel's soccer ornament from the first year he played. Or all those Harry Potter ornaments. It is so much fun to get the ornaments out every year and remember when we got what ornament and why. We put the tree up last night, and I thought I would share with you this year's ornaments:

First up, Ben got the Snoopy/Woodstock at Camp Snoopy ornament, because it reminded us of all of his scouting adventures this year.

Daniel was the happy recipient of the Iron Man ornament, as this was one of his favorite movies this year. (Iron Man was intentionally hung in front of the Peace ornament, because Iron Man stands for peace, apparently.)

Mark got a major award this year - the Leg Lamp from A Christmas Story. This is one of the most watched and most quoted holiday movies at our house.

And mom got this lovely country church. It looks quite a bit like our church, with the steeple and the windows. Extra lovely at Christmastime.

We also picked up a couple of ornaments from our travels this year.

I'm slowly getting other decorations up, and I may post other photos as we go. I love Christmastime!!