The Tree

This is our magnificent 5'5" synthetic tree, purchased at Target for under $20. We were very grateful we were able to do so many things on a small budget this year. Marilyn was so excited for Christmas that we spent Thanksgiving Day putting up the tree and Christmas decorations.

Below are the basics we picked to fill out our tree. We didn't have very many ornaments other than these, so we put the tree against the wall and only decorated the front of it. You can also see the fantastic ribbon we wrapped the tree in. Marilyn went with a red and gold color scheme.

Here is the egg ornament. We have a new family tradition with this ornament. As you can see, it opens up and you can fill it with presents. Ryan decided that every year he would fill the egg with jewelry and surprises for Marilyn. This year he was sneaky and did the shopping and filling while Marilyn was flying in and out of Chicago for auditions.

This is our "first Christmas married" ornament. We knew it was perfect for us when we saw it, although a little kitschy. It was the turtledoves. Ryan has often said we must have been turtledoves in a previous life. We love to stand with our heads together and coo. Yes, we're sappy romantics!

This is our Kelly fairy. Kelly loves fairies and we love Kelly. We bought this fairy in Doylestown, PA on our family vacation (too short!) the week before Christmas. We will remember how much fun we had every time we hang her on our Christmas tree.

The pickle is a Smith family tradition from Germany. In German homes, the parents hide the pickle somewhere on the tree. Whichever child finds it first gets an extra present. We hope their pickles are smaller than ours, because this one is not too hard to find.

These next few ornaments were gifts from Mom Smith. The Salt Lake Temple is where both Ryan and Marilyn received their endowments, and the Provo Temple was where we were married. The missionary ornament is reminding us of Ryan's mission in Japan. The two little children are our baptism ornaments. Mom had to special order the little brunette for me.

I have not included pictures of our angels, but we have a few. We have a small "choir of angels," three figures with musical instruments, which were on sale at Target. (We shop there a lot.) We have two beautiful hand-sewn angels from Jen's mother, and our last little angel is an ornament from Nancy's wedding reception tree. We felt like we had a pretty well-trimmed tree with all these angels!