Thrift Score Thursday: Christmas Kitch

I'm not a big Christmas decoration lady. Ever since being a teenager, when it's time to "deck the halls" I usually feel like rolling my eyes at all that tacky hoopla. But as I get older, I've been feeling more nostalgic about it. Suddenly all that kitch is starting to feel like a sacred tradition I never before understood.

Also, I didn't used to like the idea of buying a dying tree and hauling it into my house just to throw it away in a month. For years we've used a house plant (this weird cactus) as our Christmas tree. Last year the older kids protested, I gave in and we got a real tree. I admit, it's pretty nice.

Last year we didn't have a star on top. This upset Mara and she made a point to look for one when we were at the thrift store last week. Lo and behold, she found one that looks just like the one my parents used to put on our tree when I was a kid!

Our other decorations and ornaments were all home-made or handed down from family.

We put the tree up after Sol was in bed, so it took him by surprise when he came down in the morning. He kept crawling around it pointing and saying "Oh wow....ow, wow! wazzat?"