The Picking of our Christmas Tree!

So last night we finally got to pick out our Christmas tree. It was great because we have a cold spell this week so it was 50 degrees outside and it just felt like Christmas! I never really grew up with too many "traditions" as a kid. Living a nomadic lifestyle as a missionary kid doesn't lend itself to tradition, so when I was younger and dreamed about being married one day - I always wanted to create family traditions of my own. Well, I definitely married the right person for that! Eric loves holidays (Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, you name it!) He loves to celebrate them and he is very particular about how. For example: Christmas at our house...

The first step in our Christmas Celebration is picking out our tree. Every year since we were married we have gone together to pick out a Christmas tree (except one and I will tell you about that another day). Eric is a firm believer in the need for a real, live tree. And not a Frasier Fir either.... the traditional, sappy, poke you with needles Douglas Fir "Traditional" Christmas Tree. (I only had a few real trees growing up so this has all been new to me). Now that I've had real trees, I can't see going back to the fake. The smell of the tree fills your house with Christmas warmth... ahhhhhh! And in Florida with 70 degree weather you need the smell of evergreen!

So, we walk through the aisles of trees and Eric pulls each one out one by one while Kaylea and I critique: "That's too big, thats too small, too short, too fat, too skinny, too brown, too bunched, too bare, and so on and so on. Till we find the right one... and we always do. Its got to have a perfect triangular shape with a good point at the top for our angel.

Once we pick out our tree we have the fun joy of lugging it into the house. While I hold the tree straight and upright, Eric tightens the screws in our tree stand. This process takes about half an hour, meanwhile the branches and needles are falling all over the floor! Finally we fill the tree stand with warm water and then vacuum up the needles. And as a family we all sit on the couch and look at the tree in admiration.

Once the tree is up we of course don't decorate it for two days so the branches can settle (this is a must per Eric). So, this Thursday we will be decorating the tree as a family. Kaylea is already counting down! As we go through the Christmas season I will blog you through all of our family traditions so you can experience them with us!