It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I am sure I have used this title for other posts at this time of the year, but it says it all.

The trees are up and decorated, the village is brightly lit, and other decorations are up, so it is indeed looking a lot like Christmas around these parts.

Here are a few photos:

 We have two trees again this year.

This tree is in the dining room.

It does not have any ornaments on it this year since it is primarily a light source in the corner and I like it to be visible to the outside.

 Here is my village which all fit on the buffet this year without the need to add an extra table.

 I found these candles and red candle holders at Bethesda Thrift shop.  The candles were ten cents each and yes, they are a bit crooked, but that just adds to their beauty, I think.  The red candle holders were 29 cents.  I just added a little green garland and I think it looks very festive.

 I bought these at Hobby Lobby.  I like how cute and quirky they are.

 This is the half tree which is in the living room.

It has all of our special ornaments on it.

 There are lots of picture ornaments on this tree.

I love the picture of Alissa which was taken when she was four years old. 

Her name is spelled like this, Assila on the ornament.

And of course, I have a few photos of Tizita on the tree.

Here's Soliana on her first birthday.

 This sweet ornament is in memory of my grandson Natnael who never made it home from Ethiopia.

 Every year my mom buys us a new ornament.

This year she bought us this moustache ornament in honor of John's moustache.

 We love the movie Christmas story, so these two ornaments are fun.  They light up and talk about the major prize of a leg lamp.

 Here are Courtney and Alissa from age 5 and 3.

 This was a gift from one of my Preschool students many years ago.

Later in High School, Courtney became very good friends with the girl who had given me this ornament years before when she was little.

I love the picture of my girls in this ornament.

This is just how I remember my sweet little girls.

 These are the first ornaments that John and I bought for our first tree.

 Lots of our ornaments are from vacations especially from St. George.  Nice to remember those warm places during our cold winter.

 Here's Noah's ark.

 And this one is just because I love my Diet Coke.

 Here are my girls when they were cheerleaders back in 5th and 7th grade at St. John's

And this last one is the only ornament that John has from his childhood.

That little pipe cleaner man is attached to the ornament.

I love putting the ornaments on the tree, each one has such a story to tell.

Now if only I could find someone who would listen to the stories!

Merry Christmas to all.