I Am Going To Put Up a Real Christmas Tree!

I want to share something that I put on my FB this morning. I was going to hide out for Christmas, not put a tree up and just hope it passes without notice but I have changed my mind. Please note, I’m just copying what I put on my FB page and in no way expect any of you to send in an ornament. I was just wanting to know if family or her friends wanted to do this. You have people you are grieving for of your own and I would never expect that. But this is what I’m going to do and why:

“First of all, I don’t expect people to do this, but wanted to give Kaitlyn’s friends or just anyone that wants to a chance to do this if they want. I have decided that instead of ignoring Christmas totally this year, I’m going to buy a REAL Christmas tree. I want to do this because Christmas was Kaitlyn’s favorite time of the year and she LOVED a real tree. Every time I see these trees being sold all around they call to me.

So thanks to some advice from some of you, I decided that it would be fun to buy a real tree and put different ornaments than what I have been putting up for years. I will still put the ones with Stephanie and Kaitlyn’s names on them, and some they made, and some with their birthdays on them, but that is all. The rest of them are going to be totally new.

I thought I would buy some of the little frame ornaments and put pics of Kaitlyn, Stephanie, me and Allyn in them from different years (I found a pack of 12). I’ve gone to amazon.com and found a lot I like. I’m also going to buy ornaments that have something to do with Kaitlyn’s life, maybe cats, maybe squirrels, maybe angels (that she wrote about once), and just anything like that. I may even buy cat toys to hang up there because I know the cats will get into the tree. I may not put lights up so the cats won’t chew on them, but will put many ornaments and I think that will be special enough. I want to honor Kaitlyn with this tree with things she loved and pics of all her family. I think she would like that, I really do. I feel really driven to do this for some reason. I think she wants me to.

Allyn does not want a tree due to the cats. We talked about it last night. We will buy a tree this weekend because it means so much to me.

If any of Kaitlyn’s friends or other family would like to pick out one special ornament to send to me and put on the tree in her honor from them, I would love for you to do that. It could be something you think she would like, or just something pretty and does not have to be expensive. Again, I don’t really expect anyone to do this, but I would love it if you do. If not, that is ok too. I can buy enough to fill the tree. If someone does want to send an ornament, message me and I will give you my address. I don’t expect anyone to send anything like I said and if no ornaments come, I understand and it’s ok. I know you loved her anyway. Just wanted to include you if you wanted to participate. I’m excited!”

Below is Kaitlyn’s last Christmas this past year, standing in front of her first tree since she went away to college, her boyfriend, and her cat Gatito. She named her tree Charlie. She loved to name things.