Tree 8: Abby's Tree

Abby's tree is the newest of the kids' trees. We bought it when we moved to our current (and hopefully last house) in 2005.



Abby has an assortment of ornaments including some flower fairies and carousel ornaments from Grandma.



Abby's favorite color is blue, so she has blue ribbon for her tree and a tree skirt she made herself this year.

Tree 7: KC's Tree

In our old house, when the girls shared a room, we had a boy's tree and a girls' tree. Now that (thankfully) everyone has their own room, the girls' tree is now KC's tree and Abby has a tree of her very own.

KC's tree features lots of doll ornaments. She has the Barbie Celebration ornaments from 1999 until the present, plus the series of Madame Alexander ornaments that her grandmother has given her each year.





She absolutely loves the little glass angel that sits on top of the tree. She loves her so much that she won't even put her on until Christmas Eve (I convinced her to put her on there for the photo).

Tree 6: Brady's tree

Once I started down the path of multiple trees, it was easy to get carried away. I decided each of the kids' rooms needed a tree. I bought 4' pre-lit trees that could sit on the dresser or desk (the kids generally prefer to do homework lounging on their beds or hiding in the gameroom watching TV).

Brady's tree has a sports theme, although there are a couple of stray Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Scooby Doo ornaments thrown in there. He also has about 10 years of "A Pony for Christmas" ornaments that his grandmother has been giving him since he was little enough to actually want a pony for Christmas.

Tree 5: Beanie Baby Tree

My oldest tree, this one became the beanie baby tree when I realized I wanted a bigger tree for the living room but couldn't bear to part with this one. McDonalds did a promotion for a couple of years when they gave away teenie Beanie Babies with their Happy Meals. With the help of my mom and my Aunt Becky in Maine, we collected a couple of sets of the teenie Beanies and they sat in bags in my closet. I decided they needed a place to be on display, so the idea for the Beanie Baby tree was born.

A couple of years after I started this tree, Ty began producing Jingle Beanies, which were Christmas teenie Beanies with their own ornament hangers! I guess someone else thought this was a great idea!







Halo, the angel bear, sits proudly atop this one.



Unfortunately, this tree will be retired after the holiday. It has lost so many pine needles through the years that the wires are showing. I'll just have to buy a new tree for these ornaments next year!

Tree 4: The Disney Tree

This tree is the girl's favorite, by far. It's one of mine, too!



This one started in 2002, the year we went to Disney over Thanksgiving with Bill's parents. I found a store in the Disney Village that sold Disney Storybook Ornaments. They come about 6-7 to a set, and the set is packaged up like a big storybook. They are so cute! I bought several sets the first year, and I add a few every year.



Of course we have Tinkerbelle on the top:



And lots of other ones in between.


In this spot, you can see everyone from Christmas Carol Mickey to Kermit the Frog. Jasmine from Aladdin, Nala from Lion king (facing backward), Goofy, Donald and Daisy, Frozone from the Incredibles (way at the bottom), and Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast halfway out of the shot at the top right.

If the traditional tree is the least expensive tree, then this one is definitely the most expensive. But I love every single ornament on there. OK, maybe not the ones in the back, (the girls decorate this tree for me, and we all know the rule is the ugly or evil ones go in the back - like the ugly monsters, Jafar, the evil queen from Sleeping Beauty).

This is definitely one of my very favorite trees!!

Tree 3: The Irish Tree

The Irish tree is the smallest tree, and one of the oldest trees I have. When we first got married, we bought a 6-foot tree and it came with a 3' table top tree. I used to just put little ornaments on it, but when I decided to have themed trees, it seemed only logical that I would put up a tree devoted to my roots.



There are a few Waterford ornaments on there that JoJo (Bill's brother) and Jodi (Joe's wife) gave me, and a Belleek ornament at the bottom (the white china circular one on the left of the picture). There is a Tara china cross that my mom gave me as well as a few Irish Santas she found for me. There are a few shamrocks, and of course an Irish Flag!

I leave this one up in the dining room all the way through St. Patrick's Day. Then I switch it to an Easter tree before packing it up until Christmas. Definitely one of my favorites!

Tree 2: The Wizard of Oz Tree

This tree wasn't the first of these trees, I believe it was actually the fourth of these trees I bought, but it was the one that started the idea of having multiple themed trees.

Here is the current Wizard of Oz tree:



It just moved up to this slim 7.5' tree this year.

The way it all began . . .

Bill's mother ordered a set of wizard of Oz ornaments for me. They are very cute, and look like little kids dressed up like characters from the Wizard of Oz (these 2 are a munchkin boy and Dorothy).



This was probably 5 or 6 years ago. I knew I wanted a larger main tree for our house, but I really loved these ornaments and I knew I didn't want them to get lost on a big tree, so I decided to keep the old tree (actually trees, since the old main one had come with a 3' table tree) and buy a bigger one also. I decided to put up all 3 trees, but put only the Wizard of Oz ornaments on the old one. Except I didn't have nearly enough Oz ornaments to fill the old tree, and they were too heavy for the 3' tree. Then I decided to buy a 4' tree for the Oz ornaments and put some teenie Beanie Babies I had been collecting from McDonald's happy meals onto the 6' tree. And the rest is history.

I now have a nice mix of the Wizard of Oz ornaments Sarah bought me, plus some Hallmark Oz ornaments, plus some other stuff we included (like the "ruby slippers" Abby wore for Halloween when she was 4). Plus a beaded rainbow the girls helped me make.



The lion, tiger, and bear are there, as well as the witch (she's below the lion's courage medal on the left side of the picture) and the witch's broom along side the tree. Just in case we need to persuade the wizard to help us get home. :-)