Thankful

This Thanksgiving, even though I am not in the United States, I am thankful.

I admit that, most of the time, I am able to ignore my homesickness through a sheer force of will. I love my life here in Manchester. My husband and my son are my favorite people to be with in the world. Yesterday morning however, I was hit hard with longing. Longing for my family and for the familiar traditions, food, and noise of Thanksgiving in San Antonio. I worried that I wouldn't make it through the Skype session we'd arranged without bursting into tears. By the time it was skype-o-clock, I was feeling better and had procured the ingredients to make a pumpkin pie. (Did you know that it's really hard to find a pie tin in the UK? By really hard, I mean neither of the 2 grocery stores in our area had any.)

So here is where I will tell you things I'm thankful for:

I'm thankful for my son and my husband. I simply adore them. They are both kind and clever and beautiful and funny. Every day I am happy to be theirs.

I'm thankful for my parents. They are so loving and supportive. They are also so understanding. I know they hate (HATE!) the distance between us- especially now that Linus is around. And I do too. However, I have the joy of my marriage and son to make up for it. They have to wait for our all too infrequent visits. They are such wonderful parents and grandparents. We are all so very lucky to have them.

The biggest thing that I was thankful for yesterday, though, was this:

I'm thankful technology and that my G'ma doesn't really understand it. We connected to my family before they sat down to dinner on my brother's iPad. When my beloved G'ma was handed the iPad, we spoke briefly and she got to talk to her first-born great grandson. I didn't, however get to hear whatever she tearfully said to us after that. I think this is a very good thing as I likely wouldn't have been able to keep it together. Instead, I had a good laugh as I played charades to let them know I couldn't hear and the iPad was passed back to my brother to fix. We got passed around the kitchen of my Aunt and Uncle's bustling house and said hello to everyone. Linus sang some songs and met his cousin Wyatt. We were introduced to my cousin's fiance- a lovely girl. The laughter and noise and hub-bub of preparation almost made me feel like we were there for those brief moments. And it was wonderful.

Today, I made my pumpkin pie. In a loose-bottomed flan tin because that's what I had. And it was good. And for that, I'm thankful.

10 Months

Dear Line,

Ten months! You are ten months old! We celebrated your first Christmas and got a picture taken with Santa.  I'm hoping to make it an annual tradition (though I think we'll try to find a better Santa next year... maybe one not located in a strip centre parking lot inside a tiny wooden hut!)

You surprised Daddy and me by taking your very first steps this month. You wanted one of us to pick you up and moved from Daddy to Mommy in hopes of some extra attention. (Daddy was busy working!) I was chatting to Grandma online, but saw you take two little steps just out the corner of my eye. Daddy saw it to and we couldn't believe it! You haven't managed more than one shaky step again, but you are getting much better at standing up on your own. You can balance for several seconds before you plop down on your little tushie. You still prefer to crawl for speed, but I don't think it will be long before you're running rings around us. You have also gotten the hang of waving this month. You love to wave to us, but are a bit more reserved with strangers. You also love to point. Often you aren't really pointing at anything, you just have a finger up in the air. Daddy and I joke that it looks like you are saying "I have an idea!"

You are still eating well, though you've had a bout of pickiness lately. You went off sweet potatoes, sending me into a panic! You seem to be developing a strong preference for certain foods to be warm, whereas you used to not mind one way or the other. Your favorite these days seems to be half a pita with hummus and grated carrot. You've also started drinking a lot more water, which is awesome. I'm so glad that we decided to do Baby-led Weaning and can't imagine doing it another way. You added in a second morning milk feed directly after your first when you were sick earlier this month and haven't dropped it yet, but I don't mind.

Speaking of you being sick, you passed another childhood milestone by coming down with your first virus. One morning you had some tiny marks around your mouth. At first, I thought you'd just scratched your face by chewing on fingers with nails that were a bit long. By mid-morning, though your Daddy pointed out that it looked more like a rash. Mother's intuition told me it was Hand Foot and Mouth, a very common childhood virus. It was confirmed when the rash spread to your arms and legs. I felt terrible that it took me so long to figure out, as looking back you'd been under the weather for about a day before I noticed. I could tell you felt a bit crummy because you were fussier than usual and didn't want to eat. We gave you plenty of TLC and you were back to your old self before the weeks end.

Mr. Spotty Face

Your night sleep is still really good- though some mornings I'd be happy for you to sleep a bit later! Your naps are a work in progress. Lately I've been lying down with you to nap. It's very nice and sweet to snuggle with you, but makes it difficult to accomplish much. I keep telling myself that it's all just a phase and that you'll only be a baby for so long, so I should just treasure the moments of cuddling with you. I'm working on putting a nap routine in place, though, so look out for that next month.

You are still a total Daddy's Boy, clinging to him and reaching for him. You love me too, but rarely cling to me the way you do him. I love watching the two of you together. The other night, Daddy and I were going to bed and he declared "I'm going to check on my boy". It was the cutest ever. (Psst. Today is Mommy and Daddy's 3rd wedding anniversary. In case you can't tell, we dig each other SO much. We always want you to know how much we love each other and how much we love you!) 

Your understanding is really increasing. You definitely know the sign for milk and get super-excited when I do it. You've even done it a few times. We're working on "more" now. You say "mama" a bunch, and you're starting to associate it with me. You've done "dada" a few times, but not regularly. Mostly it's still sweet babbly nonsense, but we love it anyway! You are able to "play" a lot more now and love to do peek-a-boo. By that I mean that you will hold something out for me to duck behind (like the collar of my shirt) and then pull it away and laugh. You can also hand me things when I ask for them. You are so fun. I'm sure every parent thinks their baby is the bee's knees, but baby you sure are swell!

Christmas was fun, but you didn't really know what was going on. We didn't put up the tree because we didn't have much space and I was worried you would pull it over. Next year, we'll pull out all the stops and really do Christmas right. You got several presents that you really love like your walker, wooden puzzles and a shape stacker. I staged a little photo shoot of you to celebrate the occasion. It makes me laugh and smile, just like you always do.

I love you so much,

Mommy.

Wish List

We were recently asked by some family members to update our Linus Wish List on Amazon so that people could send Christmas (and not to far away birthday!!!!) presents for our little guy. As I was updating, it got me thinking about my own wish list. Now that Linus is on the scene, I find that most things I can think of to put on my list are really for Linus, or at least Linus-related.

And so I struggled to think of things that I wanted for me. I only partly succeeded. Here is my list, with varying degrees of "for me-ness".

1. One of my biggest wants is an Ergo baby carrier.

Ergo-tastic

I've already talked about how much I love our Babasling. Now that Linus is getting bigger and heavier, it isn't great for much longer than a short trip. The Ergo, while more expensive, is a favorite amongst moms and should last until Linus is 4. You can use it for front, back, and hip carries which is very intriguing. I'd really love to be able to wear Linus more often without sacrificing my back too much.

2. A haircut.

Every time I look at a picture of myself lately, all I can think is that I look pale and like I need a haircut. 

case in point

I haven't had my hair cut since Linus was a couple of weeks old. It is the longest it has ever been. I'm not planning on cutting it short, but it definitely needs some shaping and more layers. 

3. A sentimental piece of jewelry

It didn't happen when Linus was born or for my first Mother's Day (or my second... I got to celebrate both US and UK dates!), but I'm hoping for some little something to commemorate the birth of our first child. Not anything fancy or expensive, but just a little something special. Perhaps something with an aquamarine (Linus' birthstone) or an "L"? Who knows. I'm not really bothered what it is, but the thought of having a piece of jewelry specifically tied to Linus makes me smile.

And that's pretty much it. Sure, I'd like some other things. A cute new top or sweater. Some new boots. Every girl likes a bit of new in her life. I just find it funny that, increasingly, my thoughts turn to things for Linus rather than for me. It's only natural, I'm sure. I guess it's called being a mom!

Did you find that your wish list turned into mostly baby related items once you became a parent?

What's on your wish list right now?

Cheerful Sunday

This Sunday, I'm cheerful about things for which I'm thankful.
(How's that for shoehorning in a Thanksgiving post?) In that spirit, I'm going to tell you what I'm thankful for right now.

1. My parents-

How much does Linus look like me in this picture!?

My parents are awesome. Ross and I are both super grateful for their love and support. They are also amazing grandparents. I can't say how luck I am to have them as my mom and dad.

2. My new friends- I'm very lucky to have met some awesome women in the last year. One of their husbands dubbed us "The Coven", which never fails to amuse me. I hadn't realized how much I missed having girlfriends. My little group of friends brings me a ton of laughter and support as we go through the first months of motherhood together. I actually celebrated Thanksgiving by getting together with the girls for my first night out without Linus (and also my first without Ross since I moved here!). We had drinks and pizza. I wore a dress and a real bra for the first time in 9 months! I'm completely unbiased in my assessment that we have the four most awesome babies in the world ;)

3. My family- I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I'm totally into my husband and by baby. They're, like, the most awesome-sauce covered awesomes ever. Ross always makes me laugh and works so hard to take care of me and Linus. He's a committed, caring, loving husband and a goofy, tender, sweetheart of a dad. Watching the two of them together makes me weepy with happiness. 

my two loves

Those are my big 3! I hope you're having a cheerful Sunday and that you have as many awesomes in your world as I have in mine.

Halloween Cuties

Last year, I told you about some differences in the way that Halloween is celebrated in the US and the UK. I'd say that Halloween has become slightly more prevalent than last year, so it seems that the holiday is slowly becoming more of a "thing" here. They still haven't managed to figure out adorable children's costumes. There isn't much selection and they mostly still skew towards the creepy/scary.

Creepy child's clown costume in Asda

There are a few options for babies, but nothing great- mostly just sleepers with skeletons printed on them. It goes without saying that people here don't make a big deal of dressing up their babies in adorable costumes (or even better, family theme costumes!) like this:

my cousin with her adorable little lobster

As I've been deprived of participating in the right of passage, I'm going to share with you some adorable costumes that I might have picked if we were in the States. You're welcome.

Adorable Monkey with Cinnamon Roll Ears

He could draw a Red Line!

Roar!

Puppy Love

Studious Owl

Banana Baby

Yes, they're mostly animal. They are all from Target. (But then you know how I feel about Target.) They're all super-adorable. Feel free to share pictures of adorable babies dressed up so I can live vicariously!

What's the cutest baby costume you've ever seen?

Obligatory Jubilee Post

As every blogger in the UK has no doubt told you, this weekend was the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  We had bank holidays on Monday and Tuesday in honour of Her Majesty and there were celebrations galore.  There was a flotilla on the River Thames, a huge concert in front of Buckingham Palace, and a church service of Thanksgiving amongst other things.

We tried to celebrate by going into Manchester to watch the flotilla with others on a big screen, but sadly the weather meant that was a bust.  Not only was it wet, it was unseasonably cold!

Check out those thronging crowds!

We stayed for a bit and then headed back home to watch on the TV, but Linus was still decked out in his British best to mark the occasion.

Perhaps my favourite part of the Jubilee has been all of the neat specials they've been airing.  There have been tons of great TV specials on the air lately- looking back at the Queen's reign and showing interviews with her nearest and dearest.  I especially enjoyed one that showed Charles watching old family home movies and reminiscing about his childhood.  He came across as relaxed and nice and warm.  It was evident the affection he has towards his mother. 

That has been the biggest takeaway from the Jubilee.  The enormous affection towards the Queen- from her family and her subjects.  I mean sure there are those that are anti-Monarchy, but by and large the feeling has been really positive.  The Brits aren't generally as demonstrably patriotic as Americans, but when they show their love for their country, they go all out!  There was definitely a positive buzz in the air.

Revellers on the Mall

How did you celebrate the Jubilee?

Homemade Cards, Expat Style

We celebrated Mother's Day (or Mothering Sunday) back in March, but when American Mother's Day rolled around, I knew I wanted to send personalized cards to my mom and my G'ma.  I ended up running late with getting the card done and was scrambling to make cards when Ross had a genius idea.

I was putting the card together by hand when Ross pointed out that there must surely be a company that would do a custom card on the internet and mail it straight to my loved ones- and all for less than just mailing a card from here would cost!  A cute professional looking card that would get there more quickly and for less?!! Well, duh!  So I hoped on Shutterfly...

(Sidenote:  I've looked all over the internet for a company that does similar stuff in the UK to no avail.  I love Shutterfly and there doesn't seem to be an equivalent here.  I wanted to order birth announcements, but couldn't find a company that would let me upload to an existing cute template.  There's Vistaprint, but their templates aren't as good so you have to do the design yourself and I'm not that gifted...  So does anyone know of a great resource that I'm missing?)

...and uploaded some cuteness.

I started with this image for the front of the card.

I used some red paint to do Linus' footprints and joined them at the bottom so they looked like a heart.  I wrote "I love you!" across the bottom and Ross scanned it in for me.  For the inside top of the card, I wrote a little poem:

I've got two bright eyes,

a sweet mouth, and a nose.

But I've got one thing that's better

(as every boy knows),

and that's a Grandma/Great-G'ma who loves me

right down to my toes!

See what I did there?  I tied in the footprints with the "right down to my toes" thing... clever, right?  What can I say.  It's a gift. ;)  For the inside bottom of the card I uploaded three super cute pics of Linus and put "Happy Mother's Day!" across the bottom.

The on the back I included a little picture of all 3 of us and the words "Lots and lots of love from Meg, Ross, and Linus".

From a little photoshoot we did when Linus was one month old

Needless to say, the cards were a BIG hit!  Both Grandma and Great-G'ma loved them which made me so happy.  I was able to send them quality cards with a personalized touch and for just about $4 each- including postage.  Ross and I discussed it and I think we may well send a monthly update card to my G'ma.  Since she doesn't have the internet ("It's too dangerous to go on the internet in San Antonio because it's so close to Mexico."  She's hilarious!) it would be a great way to update her with pictures and Linus' development and I'm pretty sure it would make her exceedingly happy.  

So, hooray for having a great option for sending awesome cards and for finally having a reason to use Shutterfly!*

*It goes without saying that I am not affiliated with Shutterfly and they don't know a thing about little old me. I just get excited about cute custom printed stationery :)

How do you keep in touch with non-internet savvy family members when you're far apart?

Cheerful Sunday

Linus and I wish you a very Cheerful Easter Sunday!

My funny valentine

One of the things I totally dig about the UK (That's right.  I like things about life here.  I mention them fairly often.  Ha!) is the radio.  When we were dating, Ross often talked about how the radio in the UK is superior to that in the US.  I never really understood what he was talking about or how the radio here could be any different...

Then I came over and I realized that the radio here IS better!  I think part of the difference is that their are lots of BBC stations.  Each one is geared to different demographics and plays different types of music.  The station that we listen to is BBC2 which is a mix of talk, news, and popular music.  The popular music that gets played seems to have a far more wide-reaching playlist than the average radio station in the US.  Don't get me wrong, you'll still hear the same songs over and over again from time to time, but you hear songs from different eras and more varied artists.  

Lately, Radio 2 has been playing Paul McCartney(or Macca as he's affectionately known)'s new single.  His new album has a simple jazzy style that is really nice.  I'm sharing this song with you today in honor of Valentine's Day.  

My Valentine

(Also, it wouldn't be me if I didn't get in a public proclamation of how much I adore my own sweet funny Valentine of a husband.  I love you Ross!  You're my favourite.  I like you!  You are the one I like!)

Hope you're all having a lovely day full of some type of love or other.

Christmas for 2.5

I talked about our Christmas plans a little bit already, so I thought I'd tell you how the day went.  We slept late and started the day with a nice bit of snuggling.

I got our breakfast ready and made coffee for Ross and chai tea for me.

I ended up making a Berry and Banana French Toast Casserole.  I sort of combined 2 recipes and improvised a bit and it turned out really well!  Ross even liked it- and he's not usually big on breakfast, especially sweet stuff.

After we ate breakfast and Ross got his iPod set up to play Christmas music, we opened our stocking presents.  Then we moved on to tree presents.

A rare picture of Ross in his glasses.

We each had plenty of fun presents for ourselves, but got most excited about presents that we received for our baby.  Grandma sent a sweet little sleepsuit that features duck on the feet and a duck face on the bottom. This present resulted in the baby's first semi-enduring nickname:  "Baby Duckbutt".  That's how we roll.

Grandma also sent a soft hooded bath towel (and a little rattle lovey too).  Do you think she might be excited about becoming a grandma?

I now present to you a picture of the package that made me tear up when we opened the box of presents that my brother sent from New York.

So sweet!

And what was inside?  Baby Awesome Onesies!  You read that correctly- onesieS!  My sweet big bro sent us this HIMYM inspired baby outfit in 3 sizes (12 mos, 18 mos, & 24 mos) so that everyone will know how awesome our baby is for an entire year.  He also sent a cuddly lavender-scented teddy bear.  He may seem like a curmudgeon, but Uncle Rumple is one sweet guy :)

My favorite present from Ross is one I've already shared with you.  I just love that the baby and I have coordinating hats... now we just need to find one for Daddy. 

I followed up all the excitement of opening presents with a multi-hour nap on the couch.  I even missed the Queen's Speech!  Ross attempted to wake me and I half-heard it through the haze of slumber.  We've got it recorded so I can still experience this British tradition.  I woke up and got started on dinner.  It was resoundingly fine.  I tried all new recipes and wasn't wowed by any of them.

If you're interested our menu was:

Roasted Halibut with Olives and Shallots

Spicy Brussels Sprouts

Sweet Potato & Orange Mash

Oh well... better luck next year!  Despite the lack of WOW in our Christmas dinner, we still had a lovely day.  We finished the night by skyping with my family and then calling my grandparents for lovely chats all around.  It was strange to realize that this will likely be our only Christmas (at least for a very long time) with just the two of us.  We hope that next Christmas we're able to take Baby Duckbutt to Texas for the holidays so we can all celebrate together.  

Did you have an awesome Christmas?

What was your favorite present?

Do/did you get excited about different kinds of presents once you became a parent/got pregnant?

My First Pin

I'd been resisting everyone's raves of Pinterest for sometime now.  Then a friend on FB sent me an invite, so I figured I'd go ahead and sign up.  I figured I'd quickly be sucked in.  Everyone on the internet that talks about it seems to find it to be the greatest thing ever.  I'm... not.  Don't get me wrong.  I can see how it is useful.  I'm glad I have an account and will use it.  But I just don't see how it's the be-all-end-all.  Maybe I just haven't spent enough time searching things.  Anyway...

My very first (and so far, only) pin was for a project that I made Ross for Christmas.  I saw the project on a blog and new instantly that it would be perfect!

Source: howaboutorange.blogspot.com via Meg on Pinterest

You see, for nearly a year, I've had these lying around.

They are the menus from our first anniversary dinner at The Oceanaire.  They are pretty big, and not that neat.  I mean, they say Happy Anniversary across the top, but that's about it.  I'm actually not sure why I felt the need to keep them, but I did.  And they'd been sitting under our front hall table for the past year!

So I followed the directions in the tutorial and quickly had a cut out of a little flower.

I knew that the paper I'd printed it on wouldn't hold up to 12 tracings very well, so I traced it onto a piece of heavier card stock and cut it out to use as my pattern.

I picked 12 different parts of the menu that I wanted to be part of the ornament.  Some of them were more important to include than others.

Then, I just cut them out and assembled.  Easy peasy!  I punched a hole in one of the flowers and threaded a stretchy silver cord through it so it would have a hanger.  

I was a little worried that Ross wouldn't "get" it, but he was very sweet and his eyes lit up when he opened it on Christmas morning.  It went straight on the tree.  I can definitely see doing this craft with other paper products to make fun keepsakes.  I saw one suggestion that you could use this idea to recycle previous years' Christmas cards.

If you Pinterest and would like to follow me, you can find me here.

Are you into Pinterest?
Did you make any fun crafts for Christmas?

Cheerful Sunday

What better reason is there to be cheerful than Christmas?!

I'll give you a bonus reason:

Owl hats for me and the baby!

Merry Christmas from The Ameringlish Home to yours!

I've never heard of that... Christmas music edition Part 2

I'm back with more Christmas tunes from the Great British Songbook.  

This first one has been playing quite a bit recently.  "Stop the Cavalry" was a number 3 Christmas hit in 1980.  I asked Ross why it's considered a Christmas song, other than the cheerful horns and the fact that it contains the lyric "I wish I was at home for Christmas", it doesn't strike me as particularly Christmas-y.  Ross said he wasn't sure why it doesn't get played at other times.  A quick bit of research on Wikipedia reveals that it wasn't actually intended to be a Christmas hit, but was written as a protest song.

Still... the horns are undeniably cheerful (even if the lyrics aren't)!

Da da da da dum!

This next selection is by Aled Jones.  "Walking in the Air" shot it's teen singer to stardom after it was released as a single.  The song was used as the soundtrack for the beloved British holiday cartoon The Snowman.  It reached number 5 in the UK pop charts in 1985.

Let's go walking!

This one makes me feel very happy!  "I Believe in Father Christmas" is another one that the artist never intended as a Christmas hit.  He says he was protesting the loss childhood innocence and the commercialization of Christmas.  It went to number 2 in the UK charts in 1974.

I believe! Do you?

Today's final entry is at the request of my husband.  He has fond memories of The Wombles.  They recycled before it was cool to be green.   I don't really get it, since we didn't have The Wombles in America.  Ross used to freak out over them as a kid, and from what I can tell, he wasn't alone!  This ditty went to number 2 in 1974.  I actually mentioned the Wombles in my last Christmas music post, for the eagle-eyed of you out there... 

Remember you're a Womble!

So there's your 2nd instalment of Christmas music from the UK.

I hope it put you in the spirit of the season and that you are getting ready for a fabulous Christmas!

(or that you're having a nice Hanukkah, or that you had a nice Winter Solstice, or whatever floats your winter holiday boat!) 

Christmas Traditions

I've talked about family traditions in general and about Christmas mornings at my house growing up and now I'd like to share a few other Christmas traditions that we had.

Santa Presents- Different families have different ways of doing presents from Santa.  In our family there were presents from family members and stocking presents.  These were labelled and under the tree, or in the stocking, from whenever the gifter wrapped them.  Santa presents appeared Christmas morning in a pile.  One for my brother and one for me.  As we got older and learned the truth about Santa, these presents tended to just be the ones that were larger or more complicated to wrap.  I always liked the magic of how these presents just showed up on the morning of Christmas.  I also like that we had other presents that were known to be from other family members.  Christmas wasn't just about us getting presents.  We also gave them.  It made the joy of giving, as well as receiving, part of our Christmases.

The Wrapathon- This is one of those silly things that always makes me smile.  I'm not sure why I like it so much, as it's not really anything big.  My dad is a really good Christmas present buyer.  He doesn't do gifts much during the rest of the year, but rather saves up all his creative juices for the holidays.  He would shop throughout December and leave everything in the trunk of his car.  Then, on Christmas Eve, he would spirit everything into a room.  He would then announce that "The Wrapathon had commenced".  He'd wrap everything all at once, whilst locked away from prying eyes.  That's pretty much all there is to it, but it makes me smile.

The unwrapping of presents- After we've eaten breakfast, we do stockings.  Stocking presents are generally small, low-cost items.  Once all the stocking presents have been opened, we move onto the tree presents.  At some point, after my brother and I had some self-control and didn't descend on the presents like wild animals, we started to slow down the process.  Either my brother or I will take turns playing Santa and distribute one present to each person.  Then each person takes their turn to open their gift.  This way everyone gets to see everything and the process takes an hour or more, rather than minutes.  It's a great way to savour the morning and the giving/receiving dynamic.

The Christmas Rabbit- So this is our weirdest tradition.  It's one that I didn't ever think was all that strange until I first tried to describe it to a friend.  You know that moment where you realize that something your family does isn't normal?  When you're forced to see it from an outsiders perspective?  Yeah, this tradition is that for me.  I love it.  In my family, the Christmas Rabbit brings people pajamas.  I told you it was weird.  I don't really know why.  But that's how it is.  We all know that the Christmas Rabbit is my dad.  Every year, a sexy nightie for my mom and fun PJs for me and my brother.  The Christmas Bunny is my mom.  She buys PJs for my dad.  Around the time I went away to college, The Christmas Rabbit started giving a fun little toy and an Old Navy gift card instead of PJs to me and my bro.  I think dad felt weird buying PJs for his grown kids, but I still miss it.  I'm looking forward to when the Christmas Rabbit brings PJs to my kids.

The Christmas Eve Present- After we came home from the Christmas Eve service at church, before going to bed, we'd select one present to open.  It was a fun way to whet our appetite.  As I got older, I'd usually choose to open my present from The Christmas Rabbit so I could wear them that night.  My brother grew out of this practice long before I did.

So those are a few of our family's Christmas traditions.

What are yours?
How did Santa work in your house?
Do you have any as weird/awesome as The Christmas Rabbit?

Cheerful Sunday

The first snow of the season that sticks!
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

The view out our living room window

Meg's Rules for an Awesome Christmas Tree*

1.  Fake trees are a-ok.  Preferred even.  Unless they are some weird color.  Then they suck.

Our tree.

2. The only acceptable lights are small ones.  They can be either all white or multicolored.  I might be willing to negotiate on red and white lights, but don't push it.

3.  Pre-lit trees are for sissies.  Lights (and lots of them) must be carefully hand woven through each layer for maximum depth of light and sparkle.

small multi-colored lights

4.  "Themed" Trees are sick and wrong.  The theme of a Christmas tree should be Christmas.Trees should have ornaments in a variety of colors and shapes that are collected over the years.  Cheap filler ornaments can also be used in the early years of one's collection-building to bulk out your tree.

5.  The key to a good tree is sparkle.  This is achieved through step 3, combined with ornaments that catch the light via crystal, glitter, mirrors, or other means.

mirrors + glitter + lights = Christmas magic!

6.  Feel free to use non-traditional items as ornaments.  We've bought fun key chains on our recent vacations and are using them as tree decorations.  They are nice souvenirs and less expensive than fancy keepsake ornaments.

a key chain from Philadelphia

7.  Garland is an unnecessary distraction.  If you must use it, keep it classy.  No shiny foil stuff.

8.  Have ornaments that reflect your interests and personalities.  We've got Laurel & Hardy and pickles for Ross.  And I've got quite the collection of redbird ornaments.  This makes your tree uniquely yours!

vintage Laurel & Hardy ornaments

*This list is intended in the spirit of humour and poking fun at my own crazies.  They are my actual opinions but, while I reserve the right to judge you if you don't follow my rules, I understand that everyone has their own taste and style.

What are your rules for an awesome Christmas tree?