No Ordinary Cole: 'Tis the Season

You would think that with all the wonderful Christmas crafts being pinned on Pinterest, I would be staying very busy, but it's actually just the opposite.

Over Thanksgiving, Landon and I stayed home and were very lazy. Then, it took us a full week to recuperate from being lazy! Now, it's gotten cold and my house is so frigid that all I want to do is sit under a blanket by the fire. So, needless to say, I have not gotten an abundant of wonderful things done. Hopefully that will change soon.

But, the one thing I did do over the past week was get our home ready for Christmas. I love pulling out decorations. I think they multiply every year. I never realize how much I have until Landon keeps bringing boxes out!

When we moved into the house in Nashville, we inherited a Christmas tree that the previous owners didn't want to move. It's actually a better tree than the little one we bought right after we got married. The only negative is that it is not pre-lit, but that's a minor luxury I can go without.

So I decided to make this our "fancy" tree. The first year we had it I bought a few red and silver ornaments. Then, apparently, right after Christmas I bought a bunch more on clearance. And, I may have not remembered that and bought a few more the next year. Needless to say, we have lots now.

We didn't decorate our current home last year because we were traveling over Christmas, so it has been fun to figure out where things should "go" in this new home. We decided to put the "fancy" tree in our living room. We had to move the couch over a bit so you could walk by, but it's the grandeur of the tree is perfect for the over-sized room.

The smaller tree is used for all our Christmas ornaments from childhood and the ones we've bought since getting married nearly seven years ago (yes, for those of you who attended our wedding, it has been that long!).

As much as I love the "fancy" tree, because it makes me feel all grown up for having a color coordinated tree (silly, right?), I really cherish the "memories" tree. It has some of my favorite ornaments on it.

Like the Barbie bride and Ken groom, which was used as our cake topper on March 5, 2005.

And the Cinderella and Prince Charming we bought at Disney World on our honeymoon.

And the ornaments we've bought along the way. We try to buy one any time we go on vacation or even special trips. I have a few from business trips (an NYC ornament and White House Christmas Tree), a couple from Disney World (we buy one every time we go) and some that special people have given us (a Billy Graham Library ornament from Landon's grandmother and a few Florida ornaments from the Coles). Plus, some of my most favorites are ones, which I have been hanging on a tree for as long as I can remember.

And while ornaments are my thing, Nutcrackers are Landon's. This is a tradition started by Landon's grandmother. She would get him one every year. Now we have lots to decorate with!