Christmas trees make me happy!

That's what Thomas said as we were stringing lights on our Christmas tree.
We found our Christmas tree just a few minutes away at a stand that was donating 10% to a few good charities. The kids had fun helping choose the tree. We forgot the camera, but you can imagine Christina and Thomas giving some sound input while Grace and Caroline danced around the trees in their ballet attire and winter coats. It was dark (we're pretty consistent about finding our tree just before closing time), but as long as the tree isn't dry I'm not too picky. I feel bad rejecting Christmas trees for some reason, so I just "yeah" or "nay" the rest of the family's choice, and they've consistently picked out wonderful trees.
With 5 kids from nearly 7 months to 11 yrs., we've accumulated a good deal of homemade/kid-made ornaments. From primary, school, and home they come. Paper, doilies, foam, painted clay, painted wood...our children have had fun making all sorts of ornaments. Besides the kids' adorable ornaments, we've got ornaments given to us from family and friends, a few we bought on vacations, and a few from Wayne's and my childhood. I love the red bell my mom personalized for me in '82 and I have to wonder if there wasn't a better picture of Wayne the year he scraped up his face just before baseball picture day! I love that ornament. What a cute kid he was!
Add to all of this our tradition of giving the kids an ornament each year (mom-made or a picture frame ornament) and you can imagine how meaningful our family Christmas tree is to each of us. I LOVE IT! Like Thomas, our Christmas tree makes me feel happy inside.