Oh Christmas Tree

Tonight we picked up the Taylor boys and headed to Home Depot to buy our first REAL Christmas tree! 


Growing up both of our families traditionally used an artificial trees so naturally that is what Kenny and I did as well... When we moved into our 2nd new house in 2005, we purchased a huge 9.5 foot pre-lite tree, which will only fit where the ceiling is vaulted in the middle... causing us to rearrange our furniture every year. Although, that is a big chore it was always kind of a nice time to vacuum under and behind furniture that sits all year... This year I just didn't want to do it PLUS we now have a piano it would have been pretty crowded. Kenny agreed : ) and thought it might be nice to buy a real tree this year. 

The lot was pretty small and not much like I thought it would be... the trees were just piled up in stalls. We began pulling them out and trying to fluff them up to see what they would look like once the branches settled. Finally we just asked the sales associate (who ended up being the tree farm owner from Oregon) how to best select a tree. We ended up with a Douglas Fir mainly because I found one I thought was 'the perfect tree' and the price point didn't hurt ($19.97!! and just $32 total with the stand). Little Brian was so cute I asked him what he thought and he said, "Its just perfect." 

Jacob, our tree, Kenny 

Little Brian, our tree and Kenny 

We brought it home and Kenny and Brian set it up while I 'supervised.'  I got to pull out my favorite holiday decoration, the tree skirt I made with my Aunt Barbara when she first taught me to quilt/sew several years ago. Once we started digging through the holiday boxes in search of 'the few items I was going to put up' I decided to just get them all down and go through them. I want to condense and get rid of things I never put out anymore, then maybe holiday decorating wont be such a daunting task. 

Jacob made it SO much fun. The boys loves Christmas. He oowed and awwed at each item as we unpacked it... you would have though we were opening Transformer toys! Some things would be neat enough to justify running into the spare room to show his brother (who was busy playing a video game) and others he would delicately place on the table with both hands; like the 'gold' (AKA brass) stocking holders. As we unpacked we found a few items Jacob just loved so I told him he could take them home with him; singing mini Christmas tree, stocking holders, candy garland etc... we started him a pile! lol 

Once we had everything unpacked we started to find places around the house for them to go. My favorite was Jacob putting the table runners all lined up on the floor as a rug to the kitchen... he said it looked awesome and demanded the dogs stay off of it. He ran around the house hanging items on the door handles and did very well following my directions on where things needed to go (I am pretty controlling when it comes to that stuff... just ask Brian and Kenny! ha ha). 

It was a super fun night and I am so thankful for Little Jacob's brilliant Christmas spirit. I couldn't be happier with the tree we choose since it is pretty much the most amazing tree ever and smells wonderful!!