Family Traditions Tree

For Atti’s first Christmas, I got a little carried away and decided that everything needed to be just so. This is what has become of our first tree. The tree that used to be full of all the ornaments I made ten years ago when we were just starting out together, when my crafting skills were, shall we charitably say, not very advanced. Those ornaments were all pulled together out of whatever random fabric was on clearance, in whatever style I happened to come across.

Some of those early ornaments still made the cut. Those little red picture frames all hold a picture of Bear and I during our first year of marriage. The gold sunbursts are from that early batch, along with those beaded balls.

The main changes I wanted to make were to unite the color scheme (since it was all over the place before) and to make it reflective of our family.

To unite the color scheme I picked out a bunch of scrapbook paper that fit the palette I decided on and made a ton of ornaments out of it. Then I came up with some ornaments I’ll be sharing in detail with you this week that really focus on our family and our goals.

I continued the tradition I started last year of including picture frames tucked in the branches, and it’s so wonderful to see this little face I love so much all lit up with magical little white lights

Our tree topper is a framed picture of our little family. Atti would absolutely not cooperate during the photo shoot, so we ended up getting a goofy little action shot that suits us better than a staged portrait ever could.

The whole purpose behind this tree is to have a home for all the sentimental family ornaments. Some day Atti will bring home some adorable eyesore of a present from school, and this is the tree that will house it.

Atti and I spent a day last week covered in plaster dust as I tried to get a casting of his foot and hand prints. I’m realizing that his baby hood is passing me by without a proper record of it. First I was just worried about him getting off the oxygen, now I’m just swamped with one therapy appointment after the other and all the work it takes to get him to reach his milestones. This tree will be where those little hand and foot prints hang, reminding me of how wonderful and hard and glorious our time has been.