Our Geeky Xmas Tree

Our old digital still camera has been slowly dying for several months, but our friends Kathy and Brian were kind enough to send us a newer camera they found in a box of spare electronics. Thanks, guys!

To try it out, I snapped some photos of our geeky Christmas tree, a low-maintenance Sole-Chen family holiday tradition:

We got this small, artificial, pre-strung-with-lights tree at Walmart after moving to the Portland area in 2008. We used to have a different artificial tree, but we divested ourselves of that when moving out of the bay area because we figured it would be cheaper to buy a new one than to store the old one (which was true for many of our worldly possessions).

Our tree is non-denominational, but I continue to be amused by the two old Jewish snowmen on top (constructed on a whim at one of Loren's holiday parties years ago):

We've also been collecting a new ornament each year since 2002 to commemorate our togetherness:

F1RST

I'm pretty sure this came from another of Loren's crafty decoration parties.

No idea where we got this one, but it does celebrate my Irish heritage.

We spent the night on the Delta King, ate in their restaurant, and saw their performance of Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, all very enjoyable--and scouted the location for Hogwarts Game.

We couldn't find a satisfactory ornament until we located this free gift which had come with a Monopoly money clip we'd ordered for our wedding. Win!

Hallmark's Wrath of Khan ornament, because I am a huge nerd.

A digital photo frame running a slide show of selected pictures from our 2008 road trip.

We rescued this misfit pinecone-hedgehog from Target and gave him a custom-made sash.

Placeholder for this year, acquired at Geek the Halls; we've since decided to replace it with a still photo frame. Stay tuned for updates!