Oriental Trading Co. – Popsicle stick ornaments

One of the earliest investments I made in my new house in 2005 was a gigantic, 10′ prelit Christmas tree. Over time I envisioned the tree being filled up with cute little craft projects that the kids would bring home from daycare or school.

That first year the tree looked particularly sparse so we broke out the crafts we had lying around. I always had crafts lying around even before I was a blogger. I found some ideas on Oriental Trading Company’s website. So I knocked them off!

Below: My version

See all of the popsicle stick ornaments from Oriental Trading Company.

 

 

I say this is the kids’ tree and I mean it. I don’t change a thing. What you see is what you get, and I love it more every year.

Our family Christmas tree, unedited:

 

Her shoe.

 

Little sentiments to each other.

 

My son’s first ornament from his Grandma (his Dad’s Mom).

 

A craft from my daughter’s preschool:

 

Holidays from years passed…(I had an old camera and was a non-blogger, so time stamps are pretty evident!)

 

 

We adopted a new dog that year, my daughter was very sick with the flu…and my son needed a haircut!  Can’t do it all!

 

 

 

 

Tracking Santa…

 

I hosted Thanksgiving one year, and love the picture below. I finally got my grandparents to my house and was able to cook a hot meal for them. We’ve lost many family members over the last 5 years. Grandpa is at the end of the table in this picture. He had Alzhiemers at the time and was waaay into the pie :)

And while I never talk about it, I do love to cook!  (One day you’ll see a recipe tab show up on the blog).

***

In the end, loving each other is very simple isn’t it? It doesn’t have to be complicated…it’s just spending time together.  Uninterrupted, and uncomplicated.

Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me!   Hug your kids and enjoy your family!