Christmas Tree 2013

Picking our Christmas Tree is one of the funnest most memorable Christmas Traditions we have. One year when Meg and Adin were pretty little, we spent over 2 hours debating between two trees. One was bigger and absolutely perfect in every way but it was a little more expensive. The other was acceptable and cheaper. Literally over two hours. It all ended with us picking the more expensive perfect tree. It rang up at a lower price than even the other less perfect tree was supposed to be. We were shocked. Our own little Christmas miracle that year. There have been all sorts of fiascos with trying to transport trees home. Oh, and even more fiascos trying to get rid of the trees at the end of the season. Two memorable years. One year in Orem we didn't know what we were supposed to do with our tree. We left it on the curb and noone came to get it (that's how it works where we live now). The garbage man came and was driving off without it so Brian went out and was chasing after the garbage truck while carrying the christmas tree. Hee hee. Another time in Orem, we read that there were drop off locations. We tried to stuff the old dried up tree in the trunk of our car but were worried it would fall out so Brian climbed in the trunk and then pulled the tree in on top of him and had me drive to the location with the trunk open and him inside under the tree. He was getting totally scratched up and was freezing cold. I got to the elementary school where I thought there was supposed to be a drop off area, but couldn't see any trees anywhere. Brian was a little frustrated and didn't want to drive to a second location where I thought it might be. Sooo, he just dumped our dried up tree right in front of the elementary school. There were no other trees in sight he just dumped ours there and we left. I'm sure there was a lot of frustration upon the part of whoever found that tree and maybe even some kind of illegal dumping we may have committed. One year, in our more inexperienced Christmas tree days, we let the water drop below the bottom of the trunk. We googled it and found out that that would make the tree stop taking water essentially making it so it would dry out far before Christmas day. We literally took every ornament off the tree (lights too I think) and Brian carried that dang tree outside and recut the trunk (with a handsaw mind you). Then Brian and I had to completely redecorate the Christmas tree. There was no gentle placing of ornaments that time around. It was just shoving ornaments on while we grumbled under our breath. Now we check the water on our Christmas trees a couple times a day and it never even hovers around becoming empty. See, awesome Christmas memories that we totally would not have if we bought a fake tree. That's not even accounting for the way more awesome smell and look of a real tree. 

 It was pretty bitter cold this year so Gracie was quite bundled. It was also her bedtime so she was a little confused. She doesn't do so well with anything that goes against exactly what she needs at the time. She was screaming the whole way home. Scream screaming. Straight to bed for her.

Sillies.

Me projecting my craziness onto my daughter. This was the tree we thought we liked the best and I didn't want anyone to take it so I had Meg guard it for a minute while I looked at another one Brian was holding up. Meg instantly attaches to the trees. If we hold one up that we don't like she apologizes to it and assures it that it will get to go to someone else's house. Last year she even named our tree although I can't remember what. 

 This is the winner. It was perfectly shaped. We needed something tall and skinny this year because neither Brian nor I wanted to move the recliner out of the front room to make room for a tree (we have always done that in the past in this house but this was our first year with our beloved recliner that we adore and couldn't part with for a month). This tree was skinny but not quite as tall as we usually like, but we loved it. Brian always sets up the tree and spends a loooong time getting it perfectly straight in the base. Then he spends a good hour putting on lights. This was our first year with beads. Brian mentioned last year that our tree was missing something and suggested beads this year. We both love the look so much better. Why hadn't we thought of that before. It made me wonder what other awesome ideas there are out there that we haven't thought of yet. :)

 We bribed the kids with hot chocolate to wait to decorate till morning because we had gotten home so late.

 Gracie was a huge help.

 And this year was Adin's year to place the star on the tree.

One funny side note. Being in my pregnant nesting stage last year at this time, I put away all the Christmas decor in a very organized fashion and even labeled everything. I labeled the lights that when on the tree with a sticky that said tree lights. We don't really have any other colored lights so it wasn't really necessary to have them labeled. The kicker was that I put a sticky note in one of the Christmas boxes reminding me that Joanns put their Christmas wrapping paper on clearance 2 weeks before Christmas. It's funny for me to think back on that time and how wired my brain was with hormones that I thought it was essential to remind myself of a sale on wrapping paper. Crazy lady. How does Brian put up with me?