Yesterday I showed you our mountain adventure. Today the tree comes to my living room. Notice the special blanket that came to bless me all the way from Africa!

This is my third Christmas tree and the first year I added ornaments. The last two years we had only white lights, a reminder that Jesus’s brought light to a dark world. This year I felt released to add the ornaments. I sensed the LORD wanting me to remember how much I am loved. See, my tree was decorated by others. The balls, the snowflakes, the icicles, the ornaments–over the years love was poured out upon me in the form of these gifts, and I packed the treasures in a box until the day I could put them on a tree. Some of the decorations hanging here were given to me by students many years ago! I wish I could share all the stories, but I’ll just pick a few.

One friends teaches me to hang onto joy no matter what. She gave me this ornament several years ago. This year it dances upon my tree!

Many years ago our son was a competitive hockey player. We didn’t know he’d outgrown his skates, but found out they were two and a half sizes too small! We couldn’t afford to get him new skates, but someone told me the LORD told her to buy him skates. When she did, she sent us little skate ornaments and hope, peace, and faith hearts. These ornaments have been waiting almost ten years to hang on our tree! What a great reminder of God’s faithfulness. All praise to HIM!

This one was handmade by a woman who prays for the person she’s creating something for. She gave it to me the first year we had a tree.

This ornament was a gift in celebration of my first traditionally published book, Postmark: Christmas. My friend printed out the first page, cut it into strips, and curled them. It’s a reminder of how God blessed me with publication after all those years of praying and submitting and learning to write. That book released in 2012!

The year I got my first tree all kinds of surprises arrived in the mail and at my house. Lots of snowflakes from friends who knew about our snowflake cutting tradition. Here’s one.

Some decorations came from out of state. I’ll show you two. One is to commemorate a beach vacation and the other because that friend and I share an affection for Downton Abbey. I loved thinking of my special friends when I pulled the memories out of the box this year. So fun to finally use the little treasures!

The gifts kept coming this year! I love these snowflake balls!

I did buy this one myself to support women in Afghanistan who sew to provide food for their families.

Last but not least, I’ll share the most recent gift. This was handmade by a friend to honor the birth of our Savior AND to celebrate the release of Soul Scents: Flourish, which includes the Advent thoughts I shared last week.

Earlier this month I told you how our daughter, then three, told us she was going to get her own Christmas tree and how excited she was when, as a grown woman, she and her husband were staying with us when we got our first tree. I snapped a couple of pictures at her house this year. I’ll show you her tree tomorrow! Then I will move onto the New Year. Honest!

Until Next time!

Tagged: christmas tree