Christmas Tree Conundrum

Most years I don't think twice about how to decorate our Christmas tree.  But with Pinterest and a ginormous blogland to travel, sometimes I catch myself wondering if I should rethink the way I decorate it.  

Should I make it a color coordinated gradient like John and Sherry's?

Or maybe it should have a theme like this poinsettia tree.

This book tree is quite clever,

as is this wine bottle tree via Pinterest.

via www.nps.gov

Maybe just going large like the White House would be fun?  But at the end of all the "should I's" it always ends up like this.

If I made it match or gave it a theme, I would miss dragging out all the ornaments we've collected over our 20+ year marriage.  

Like the following three all handmade by my sister.

This one is a memorial to my husband's grandma who was a dairy farmer.

And this one is a memorial to my grandpa, who among other things, was a Republican and of course collected elephants of all shapes and sizes.

This one my "rock star" nephew made for us.

And this one my oldest son made when he was in grade school.  He is now 21.

And of course, Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

I've linked up with Honey We're Home to show off my tree this year.