Our Tree

My wonderful sister-in-law, Jamie, asked to see pictures of our "travelocity" tree. We visited them in Virginia last year. She was an eye witness to the out-of control purchasing of ornaments on our sabbatical. Let me explain......We've had a tradition since we've been married to buy (if possible) and ornament at various places we visit as a family. It's been super fun each year to get them out and say "ohhh...do you remember...." Well, on our sabbatical we took two months of traveling....basically we blew our budget on ornaments! If we were smart....we should have made an exception to the tradition! We've actually collected so many ornaments now that it is a PAIN to put them on the tree. Anyway, here's a few photos (well....actually.....A LOT) to document the Tomlinson Tree Lighting. (hope you don't get too bored)

We braved the wintery rain to find the perfect tree. Nathan still doesn't understand why it takes so long to find a tree....they all look the same! Plus, he says....we see one and then we waste all this time and then go back to the first one we saw. Bah-humbug!

A small sampling of the ornaments.

The Tree trimmers...Yes...they are still smiling and working.

The finished Product.....Hurray!!!! We love it!!! It's amazing how much a tree will change the feeling of the room.

Here's our first ornament (the San Francisco Trolley) and an ornament of the temple we got married in. To this day, Bob still uses a phrase that he picked up on our honeymoon from the Trolley conductor..."Back door lady, Back door" Just writing the words don't give it justice....you need to hear him do the accent. We had so much fun on our honeymoon....even though 1/2 of it was spent arguing :) Hard to believe it's been 15 years.....almost 16!...And all of it has been pure bliss! (I'm getting old....memories fading)

A picture for your "I spy" book. These are just a few ornaments we've collected. I will spare listing them all....maybe I should so you can spend precious time finding them! Kind of cool picture though. I'm impressed with my photog skills! :0

Here's Amanda's favorite....New York was the end of the two months for us. We had no money by then, it was record breaking heat, and we walked everywhere....but....boy did we have a BLAST! One of the kids favorite memories is going to the Today Show and to Serendipity's for frozen hot chocolate....Yes....that's an oxi-moron. (how do you spell that?)

This was just too cool of a shot to pass up. It's from Churchill Downs....Kentucky Derby. About 1/2 way through the vacation, we threw a visit to this place in at the last minute...We're glad we went! It was here that we decided we had too many ornaments to pack around anymore.....so.....we found a post office and mailed 2 boxes home....yes....full of ornaments and other souvenirs - we were wacked out! (were??? we still are!)

The kid's tree. Nate has a ton of fun finding his tiny tree each year.

I love the ornaments on the kid's tree...there's a lot of these cute sentimental ones. Nate's hand is now double the size of this one from kindergarten. Those were fun days!

Just a cool picture of their piano ornament that each one got from their piano teacher last year.

My Christmas village. This is one of my favorite decorations. I have to get a new thing each year. Except this year Bob wouldn't let me get one because he said there's no room. I think I'll sneak after Christmas and see what I can find at a steal-of-a-deal price and then pack it away. Next year, he won't even realize!