It's Christmastime!

You know, there's just something about living in a Muslim country during Christmastime. I mean, it just doesn't feel like Christmas! They do celebrate New Year's over here and they put up trees, but it's just not the same. There isn't Christmas stuff, oh, everywhere. I've seen a very select few "Christmas" things out there. There's no snow, it's not very cold, and well, quite frankly it's just a little sad to me.


A Santa made from a coffee can that my mom made like 10 years ago, and a tray and coasters that Cindy, Shannon's stepmom, gave to us 2 years ago.

For all of those reasons, I'm very, very glad that we have a Christmas tree, a nativity (two, actually!), stockings, and a few other Christmas-y things. We paid $200 to bring a trunk full of nothing but Christmas stuff with us, and while it was hard to justify spending that money at the time, right now I'm very, very glad that we did it. I kind of wish we had more!


Our nativity. I've been hauling this around with me since college, so at least ten years.

I wanted to share with you a few of the things that we brought with us, things that make our home feel Christmas-y. Things we deemed important enough to pay $4 a pound to bring with us.


Our Christmas book collection (yes, I know, it's small. But it's growing!), and a few Christmas stuffed animals.


Our second nativity (oh, so small...great for traveling!), a box that holds my Polish ornaments, and an ornament hand-painted by my mom.


I inherited this pillow when my grandmother died. She did all the needlepoint.

Then we have our stockings, but you've seen them before here. And then there's our ornaments. I love ornaments.


Our ornament from last year, hand-painted Polish ornaments, and an ornament that was mine when I was a little girl.


My hot-air balloon ornament that my sister got me and an Auburn ornament that some of Shannon's friends got for us our first Christmas together.


Our " Our 1st Christmas" ornament.


Lane's "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament.


Another ornament from my sister: it's Italian blown glass and a nativity scene (although it's hard to tell in this photo).


This year's ornament...we think it's perfect...a daddy marshmallow, a mommy marshmallow, and a baby marshmallow!


The blue ornament is from Prague, and the Auburn tiger is well, strangling an Alabama elephant. :-)


A Polish pottery ornament, a wooden "three wise men" ornament from Bethlehem, and a glass-blown ornament from my dad and stepmom.

And last, but not least, we have the few ornaments that are so ugly that they are relegated to the back of the tree. They were all Shannon's, pre-marriage.


Ugh.


Double ugh.


Oh, the humanity...

Anyone else notice a trend with all of Shannon's ugly ornaments? They're all Auburn ornaments! I mean, we have nice Auburn ornaments that we can display on the parts of the tree that people actually see. But these...these are too hideous to make people look at, don't you agree?