Hermans Down Under: It's a Charlie Brown Christmas (Tree)

I managed to find a tree within Jeff's budget - I spent $27 on the tree. Side note: That is approximately equal in cost to 1.5 packs of cigarettes here, but since I'm a good wife (hey, I cook at least once per week) , I won't say that to my husband. So, on to our Charlie Brown tree....quite pitiful , really. It's not very full and it's not very tall. But - it's a tree that we can put all of our ornaments on.

Here we go, from the ugly beginning....Wow, it looks even worse in this picture than I thought it did!

Jackson is putting the first ornament on.

I am not much of a sentimental person. My mom and sister think I'm missing some gene because they are extremely sentimental. I have a box of things that my kids have made me, and things that they may want to see one day. And, I keep a box for each of my kids (and one for Jeff) that I write quick notes in and drop in (usually one liners - Jax, you made me so proud today...Hollie, you told your class that you saw a penis at the nude beach we walked past today...). But that's about as sentimental as I go normally.

Anyway, the point is this. I'm not sentimental about most things, but I am very sentimental about Christmas ornaments. The kids pick one out each year, and we add it to the tree. So every year, when we get the ornament box out, the kids ask "where are mine? oh that's it! remember I got this one because..." It's a fun time, when we all find our favorites, as well as the ones we've forgotten we had, and remember when we got them. You can pretty well look at our tree and tell who each ornament belongs to..

Sparkly shoes, boots, and hats..that'd be me. Jeff continues to ask each year if he can hang beer cans and newport boxes on it, and I continue to tell him no.

And here's Hollie hanging her first one this year..