The Sports Tree

Mike's mom has always been into Christmas decorating. I'll never forget the first Christmas I spent with his family. It was a winter wonderland with a Christmas tree in every room of the yes. Yes - EVERY ROOM - including the bathrooms.

One tradition she had that Mike always enjoyed was decorating a Sports Tree. Mike's family is way into sports. His dad is a sports journalist who covers Big 10 football and his parents grew up in Detroit so they follow the Tigers, Lions, and Redwings pretty closely. So his mom began collecting sports related ornaments. As the only woman in the household, maybe it was her way of involving the men in the decorating. I can sympathize. Both my boys still enjoy decorating the Christmas tree with me. But how much longer will that last?

This year, I decided to continue to tradition of the Sports Tree. We have several of our own sports related ornaments and the mother-in-law let us borrow hers, complete with her Big 10 ornament collection. (Sadly, she doesn't decorate as much as she used to. Is that what happens when your kids are all grown up and out of the house?)

I had purchased a fake tree for 70% off after Christmas last year. I think I paid about $5 so it wasn't much to start with. I got it out of the box last night. Mike immediately laughed when seeing it. He calls it the Charlie Brown tree.

This morning, I put the lights on it and Nicklas started decorating it.

We learned one lesson pretty fast. Nicklas shouldn't handle glass ornaments over a wood floor.

(My apologies to my mother-in-law. We owe you a Michigan Wolverine's ornament for your Big 10 collection. Oh, and a Minnesota Gophers one too. )