Grani and Papa's Tree

Several years back, my mom passed our childhood ornaments to us to share with our families and put on our trees.

Which left her 'stash' of ornaments quite low... she even contemplated NOT putting up a tree that year.... GASP!?!

So as us siblings are known to do... we bulldozed the situation and took matters into our own hands, actually I did run this idea by my mom first, we do have some manners, sometimes.

So the 'Grani and Papa tree decorating' became a tradition in our family.

Each year, a different sibling orchestrates the decorating.

One year, Alisha got handprints of each of the grandchildren, made them into ornaments, and whala... the perfect 'grandparents' tree.

Kim made little gingerbread folks representing each family member their year.

And brilliantly, each time that years ornaments are redistributed back out to the family and my mom and dad still don't have to store excess ornaments... Brilliant, I must say.

Last year, with my parents moving, unpacking, settling... the tree tradition hit a glitch... so we made sure to start it right back up again.

Now we have tons more individual families that have joined our ranks, so future rotations will get better and better.

2008 was done by us Callahans. Our children get to choose 5 ornaments to put on OUR family tree. We always have lots of ornaments that normally go unused. The kids wanted to decorate Grani and Papa's tree with all these precious extras.

You know... all the classics, like popsicle reindeer, and macaroni ornaments, etc.

So on December 6th we gathered to decorate the tree. Savannah and Christian tackled lights installation, whew, that is always a toughy. I put on the garland. Then the kids took over placing all their favorites.
Cari, Chris, Conchi (Chris' mom), and Noah came for a visit and to watch the First Presidency Message.

And what would Christmas 2008 be without the goat?! Noah quickly learned that carrying Madi by the throat made her eyes pop out... so he started lugging her around by the body after this.

To a baby goat, everything is a nipple, scandalous! Noah found this funny. Notice in the above picture his other point finger, extended and ready to be nibbled too.

By the end of the evening, Madi was getting tired, but Noah still wanted her to run, and jump, and head butt... so he would give her litte nudges to motivate the sleepy goat.

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More wonderful memories of decorating Grani and Papa's tree

2009 - Barry and Kim's crew

2010 - Alisha and Nate's gang

and I will give reminders to following families, in age order, each year from there.