Show Us Your Life - Christmas Tour of Homes

Over at Kelly's Korner, today's post is a Christmas Tour of Homes. I typically don't participate in the tour of homes posts because it's just not my thing. This year, when we put up our Christmas tree I decided I wanted to take photos of our ornaments and document the story behind all of them. So, linking up to Kelly's post gives me the inspiration to do just that.

This is our first "Financial Peace" Christmas (and might I add, we are very near our one year anniversary of living like no one else, and it has been full of frustrations, but even more full of rewards - we have paid off an incredible amount of debt and that is a gift in and of itself this year). That being said, we had set our gift budget back in February and never thought to include a "home decor" budget. Totally fine with me right now, we are living like no one else (remember?). Unpacking the Christmas decorations just made me giggle because I knew our tree was going to look very FPU!

The tree is approximately 6' tall and was purchased last December, on clearance, at Target. I did splurge for $8 of white lights from Wal-Mart. I feel like less is always more, except with the lights on the tree. For a 6' tree I used about 200' of lights! Then, added the limited, but very meaningful, ornament collection:

The "joy" ornament was a gift as a part of an Advent by Candlelight place setting in December 2009. Our table was hosted by our friend Monica. Monica's son, Zach, was diagnosed with T-Cell Leukemia during the spring of 2009 and hosting a table was her way of extending a thank you to a handful of people who had offered words of encouragement, a shoulder to cry on, a warm meal, etc. An unnecessary thank you and a strong message to remain joyful in all circumstances.

 The nail ornament has a tag attached that says "The Greatest Gift of All". The message inside the tag says "Each Christmas this nail I see, on my Christmas tree reminding me of a special gift from God above, the ultimate gift of His true love. The greatest gift was given to you and me, the gift of Life for all eternity!" Sadly, I do not remember where I got this ornament. I think it has been around for quite some time and was from Salt Company while at Iowa State. Anyone? All I know is that it has and will stick with me!

This ornament was made on December 15th of 2009 and is little Matthew's handprint with my free-handed decorating. Matthew was not a fan (to say the least) of having his hand dipped in white paint at that time. But, I am definitely going to give this ornament a shot again this year with both boys and probably continue until their hands are just too big for the ornament.

These little picture ornaments were a gift from my friend, Kathryn, in December 2008 right after Matthew was born. They are just too sweet not to hang on the tree.

 This is our traditional "First Christmas Together" ornament given to us as a gift in 2006.

The church ornament is so pretty and super sparkly (love). This was given to us as a gift by one of my best friends in the world, E!

This seashell was a stocking stuffer from my mom last year (December 2009) and I love it because it is a reminder of my mom and dad even on the years we can't be with them on Christmas day!

Our Willow Tree nativity scene is on our foyer entry table and was given to me in various pieces over the last few Christmas' by Jon's parents. I adore this nativity scene and hope that it is the same one on my foyer entry table when I'm 90. Matthew is very intrigued by it this year and has done very well not to touch and treat the items as toys. I did add a dark red table runner underneath which seemed to "complete" the look.

On our other foyer table I added a vase filled with ornaments. I contemplated using these ornaments on the tree, but I have always used these ornaments as a center piece and decided to stick with that this year, too. The candles (there are actually two) were purchased from Hobby Lobby on clearance a few years ago. Since taking this photo I added a 5"x7" frame of last years Christmas card. The photos in our card were taken by our amazing and super-talented friend, Beth, and are priceless memories. My favorite Christmas cards to-date (and I would have tried to be equally as creative this year, but Dave Ramsey just did not allow and so I am resorting back to the stash of Christmas cards purchased in previous years).