Adventures in Christmas Tree-ing

This weekend we went out and purchased a beautiful Christmas tree for our Holiday season.  It started on saturday.  We headed over to the Tree Farm tent at the local home improvement store and headed into a delightful arena of heavenly smell of pine tree and wood chips. (Breathe deep and take it all in).

Starting at the 8-9 foot trees, we quickly decided they would be a little too big for our needs. We Headed to the 5-6 foot trees, and again made the decision it was not going to meet our needs.  So splitting the difference we went to the 6-7 foot trees. PERFECT! ( We were like the 3 little bears.  Too big!  Too small! Just Right!)

After having the poor woman pull and twirl trees, and try and shape limbs, cut more trees free from their binding we found one that I really liked.  But I wasnt IN LOVE with it.  It was great, but not GREAT.  So I asked if we could set it aside as the "I really like this one, so keep it aside in case we cant find anything bettter".
So as this sweet woman cut a few more trees and twirled, I was getting frustrated.  I knew EXACTLY what I wanted.  Tall (but not too tall), Full (I mean FULL), no bare spots ,and  a straight upper stem to put the topper on.
As soon as she cut the binds on our tree, I KNEW it was THE ONE.  It was like the scene in Lampoons Christmas Vacation.












It was PERFECT.  Tall, but not too tall. Full. No weird spots to face towards the wall, perfect straight branch at the top.  And as she was twirling and fluffing, it was falling into place perfectly.

So we paid, had them cut the end, trim a few bottom branches, wrap it up and pop it on the roof of the car.
So here is our 7' North Carolina Mountain Grown Fraser Fir.  I am in heaven.

OUR TREE...

PUTTING IT IN THE STAND

JOSEPH INSPECTING THE NEW TOY

UNBOUND, IN FULL GLORY, but not completely dropped yet.

BOYS IMPRESSED WITH THEIR WORK

JUST PLAYING WITH SHUTTER SPEED.

O CHRISTMAS TREE, O CHRISTMAS TREE

HOW LOVELY ARE THY BRANCHES?

can I just say that MY HOUSE SMELLS SO GOOD!!!
So glad to have my tree up this year already.  With Thanksgiving being so late in the year, I had limited time to get this done. I am so glad we did it this long Holiday Weekend.

Merry Christmas to all this beautiful Holiday Season.

Oh Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...how lovely are thy branches

This weekend we went to Lowes and purchased our Christmas Tree.  It is a lovely 7 footer, full and lush and green.  29.95 plus tax, baby!  It smells so good. I love it.
We put it up  in water and let it sit for a day and a half before decorating it, to let the branches drop.
I went to Target and purchased a few boxes of m ini lights, they were the red/green/white multi string. They are lovely.  I havent had new lights in 15 years. We've been using the same white strands that dont work half the time, unless you give 'em a good shake every now and again.
So it was nice to put new, WORKING, pretty lights on our wonderful tree...did I mention just how good it smells??

So we had a decorating party Monday for Family night.  We pulled out all the boxes (by we, I mean I made Charles go under the house where all the spiders are and pull out the storage bins.) and went to town.
I made my special world famous brownies, we had hot chocolate and listened to Christmas music on Sirius XM. It was a Holly Jolly time.  I put up all my nutcrackers, pulled out the stockings and hung them on the fireplace, arranged my gazillion snowmen and let the spirit and magic of Christmas fill the house.
I just cant seem to capture the Christmas Tree properly. I dont have the right camera or something. They always come out blurry. I tried slowing down the flash, I tried adjustiung the f-stop thingy, I tried no flash, I tried motion blur correction...so any helpful hints would be appreciated.

Here are some of our favorite, traditional ornaments:

 The Pickle.  It is a german tradition. On Christmas Eve, parents hide the pickle ornament. When it comes time to open presents, the child who finds the pickle ornament gets a little extra something for being observant.  Well in our house, whoever finds the pickle gets to open the first gift.  My grandparents always had a pickle on their tree. I always thought it was so funny, but now it is one of the first that gets hung up every year.

this ornament was made in 1981 by me. I remember when we made it. We had to go up to the teachers desk and dip our thumb into an ink pad and stamp out the snowman.  My mom gave me this ornament a few years back when she decided her tree was too fancy to warrant such kitschy, homemade ornaments. She is all matchy matchy now. So I inherited all the old stuff from when I was a kid. I remember all these ornaments were in an old Knitts Berry Farm jelly sampler box. It was always the first box I pulled out to hang. Those were the best ornaments.

A few years back at Costco they had a pack of German Glass blown ornaments for 24.99. Ity was all the classic kids christmas movie characters.  These are just a few of them. It has rudolph and sam the snowman, the bumble, frosty, the grinch, santa clause is coming to town etc. They are awesome. My fave ornaments. The packaging is a pain in the butt, but well worth it. LOVE my TV ornaments.

 What would Christmas in the south be without a little NASCAR?  This is Peters Jeff Gordon hood ornament. Yep, we have a NASCAR hood on our Christmas Tree.

This is Peters Donate Life Heart ornament we picked up in 2009 in Louisiana when we went down for the Coroners convention and spoke to them with the Leger family about organ donation. It has a special place of honor on our tree 

 This is Charles YODA ornament. (dont judge me, I am an enabler). Got it for him a few years back for Christmas. Finn always asks to hang it up, and sometimes Charles is gracious enough to let him do it. I can almost hear Yoda saying "dork, you are"

 And last but not least, the sweetest ornament on the tree. Bought this in 1998 after the birth of our darling baby girl, Jillian. This is always a bittersweet ornament to hang up.  We unwrap it and remember the little baby that blessed our home for only a few short weeks.   But her bootie is always at the top of the tree, next to Peters donate Life heart.

I love Christmas. I am so grateful that I have a savior who loves me and who knows me. I am grateful for all my many many blessings. Health, a home, family and friends. I am grateful for all that God has chosen to give me, and I know that he blesses me with what I need and more.
May this season keep you all safe, happy and healthy. 
Merry CHRISTmas to you, and a wonderful new year.