Christmas 2015

As I mentioned in a previous post, we decided to scale back this Christmas. I was stressed over school and wanted to focus my energy there. 

But then as Christmas got closer and closer, I started to feel back we didn't have a tree. So I did two things that I vowed I would NEVER do.

I bought a fake tree. Not only that, but it was a small tree. Someday, when school is over, I will go back to having a huge, real tree. But until then, this one will work.

My favorite part about it was digging out our old ornaments that hung on our first Christmas tree. I think we only used them for a year or two, and then we boxed them away and never dug them out again. It was really fun seeing them up on the tree again. 

Having a fake tree did not keep that cats out of it. In fact, we had fake pine needles all over the floor because they kept chewing on it. And I didn't get a picture of it, but there was a kitten sized gap in the tree where we think Blue was sleeping when we weren't home to kick him out of the tree.

Our stockings on the couch Christmas morning. Santa even left a gift for the pets.

The cats were obsessed with the catnip filled carrot. They took turns playing with it all morning long.

This year, our stockings contained candy and gift cards. I got an Amazon gift card and Josh got an iTunes gift card.

It was a much smaller Christmas this year, but I think it helped us remember that we don't need a big and elaborate Christmas.