We've had our tree up for about a week now at the Speckled Duck household. This tree is debuting its seventh Christmas in our home, and every time I set it up I think, "Gosh, I love this tree." Last year I finally perfected my color scheme. I've been a huge fan of the light blue / red combo for a couple of years now, last years find of blue ornaments really amplified that love. (You'll notice plenty of my Christmas designs in red and blue.) 

Seeing everyone's tree photos on Facebook really shows how Christmas trees are a sort of memory book and history of a family. When we got married, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Rey gave us a set of Bride's Tree Ornaments from the Inge Christmas collection. Since then, I have kept all of my ornaments to the blown glass style, adding a few each year to remind us of milestones and memories, our tree has become a bit of our own family history. 

This angel, part of my original 12 Bride's Tree Ornaments, still hangs on our tree. I love that even with so many different ornaments, I can change up the "theme" by adding solid color balls. You can see one of my newest loves, the red and white polkadots!

Santa with a blue hat from the year my son was born. 

The sun, because my favorite song to sing to my son is "You Are My Sunshine."

These big graphic snowflakes are my new favorite - I like to add some ornaments that tie the whole tree together. There's lots of these! Plus, I have a slight snowflake addiction! 

We like to get some silly reminders too. One year our fish tank became infested with snails, and we didn't know where they came from! This is the only snail surviving! We also have an ambulance, for the midnight ride my hubby took after a serious allergic reaction to ant-bites. He LOVES that there is a reminder of that incident on our tree. 

I love taking these ornaments out each year, remembering the event behind each one makes setting up our tree that much more special.