Oh Christmas Tree Ornaments, Oh Christmas Tree Ornaments

If you've visited my blog before, you know that I love Christmas!  My mom was always really good about special ornaments, and things like that, and I've tried to keep up with that tradition.  I would've loved to have had all of you over, but since I couldn't do that, I thought I'd give you a little tour!

Every year, I make/get us a family ornament.  I've made a felt cupcake ornaments, I made clay ornaments in the shape of Hungary, I got these really cute metal ornaments from Shutterfly, and this year, with Aidan's help, we made "Aidan's First Christmas" handprint ornaments.  This year, we also got palm tree ornaments, for our "Christmas in Florida".

I think commemorative ornaments can be a hit or miss.  They're not all cute, but the ones that are, are REALLY cute! :)

I love this Lenox "First Married Christmas" ornament.  It was a gift from our pastors in Ohio.  So pretty!!!

I got this ornament for us from Etsy.  It's one of our wedding pictures printed onto a clay tile.

Awww, I love our new little family ornament from our best friends!

Aidan got his "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament from his grandma.  I love how sweet it is!

My mom got us a few new ornaments, that I love.

 The "pastor" Hungarian figure (In Hungarian pastor and shepherd are the same word) for Dan

 Little Hungarian boy for Aidan

 And the Hungarian maiden for me

This GORGEOUS ornament made from a sea urchin and spindle.

Here are a couple other pictures from our Christmas...

My mother-in-law got me my very own Willow Tree Nativity set.  I have been wishing for one FOREVER, and was so excited she got it for me!

I really love our Christmas cards every year, and have wanted to display them.  This year, I strung some baker's twine, got some little mini clothes pins, and hung our cards above the TV.  

                                    

My mom had a Precious Moment Nativity set, which was very dear to her.  It was always my job as a kid to put baby Jesus into the scene.  I just loved his little face!  When I moved out, she gave me her Precious Moments.  I put them up every year, and get very nostalgic!

This year, instead of a tree skirt, we used a galvanized tub, and I LOVE how it turned out!!!  I'm never going back!

Last, but not least, here is this year's White House ornament.  Every year, the White House comes out with an ornament, centered around one of our presidents, and comes with a little booklet about the history of it.  My Gramps has gotten them for my parents for years, and once Dan and I got married, he started sending them to us too.  They're really special, and if you're interested, you can check them out here.

Well, there's our apartment at Christmas in a nutshell.  Hope you enjoyed a quick tour of our apartment.  Happy New Year!

Have your cake, and keep it too!

Dan's family has this great tradition, where at Thanksgiving all the ladies give each other a Christmas ornament.  I wanted them to be something that would remind them of me.  So, since we had (Georgetown Cupcake) cupcakes for our wedding cake, I thought cupcakes were definitely the way to go.  So, brushing up on my blanket stitch, I got to work.  They were SO cute, SO easy, and SO cheap, that I ended up making 18 of them.  I made chocolate and vanilla ones, with frosting of all colors.  Not to mention the sprinkles!  It was very easy to get carried away with the sprinkles!  All this adorable craft took, was some felt, thread, beads, quilting stuffing (Poly-fil) and some ribbon.  (Michael's has great deals on off-season ribbon.)  I looked around for a design I liked, but ended up making my own.  I then scaled that down to make some scrumptious cupcake earrings.  

This ended up being a fun, economic, too-cute-for-words project!  Even the hubby got into it, helping me pick out sprinkle combos, or deciding who would like which cupcake.

I find cupcakes too cute to eat anyways, so this way I can have my cake and keep it too!

Vanilla cupcake with silver frosting, and "candy" sprinkles

Chocolate and vanilla go so well together!

I couldn't NOT make a purple one!

My adorable earrings.  I put together my outfit around them the next day!

My pattern, and one for a future ice cream cone ornament.  Come back later for that one... :)