Oh Christmas Tree

 

We've come a long way in the Christmas tree department.  When the delivery man showed up at our door with a gorgeous 6 foot Frasier Fir (from a killer deal we scored on Groupon) I couldn't help but think about all the trees our family has shared since we've been married. We were living in England for Talmage's first Christmas and boy, were we ever poor. We couldn't afford a Christmas tree, we could barely even afford to feed ourselves, so we picked up some branches from the local tree lot, taped them to a lamp shade, and decorated it with a paper chain. I still love the pictures of that "tree." The next year I was pregnant with Everett during the holiday season and sick as a dog. It was black Friday, I had thrown up every ounce of our Thanksgiving dinner and I desperately needed some holiday cheer so we braved Target in the Bronx (which we had nicknamed Armageddon Target on a good day, you can imagine what it was like on black Friday!) and bought the cheapest artificial, pre-lit tree in the place. It was magical when we got that thing set up. It was just last year that we found two mini Christmas trees on the streets in Sayville, New York and called it good in the tree department. Not an ornament could fit on it's branches but our boys were ecstatic! We've had years with fake trees and years with no trees and Christmas has still been magical and full of cheer and amazing, but this year I really, really wanted a real tree. I wanted to smell the pine needles and army crawl under it (like my mom used to do) with a pitcher to water it and I wanted big, full branches to hang all of our precious ornaments. Every year has been great and I always say it was the best yet, and I'm sure this year will be no exception! 

And now, since this is my first year with a real tree and I'm feeling kind of like an adult all of a sudden, here is a little bit of the evolution of our tree (because I know you care, right?!):

The tree came in the morning and I was so worried that it was going to die that I borrowed a saw from our Super, sawed off the branches near the bottom, set up our stand and put the tree inside. I felt like such a pioneer woman after that, let me tell you!

I could barely stand it and started hanging lights immediately. This is the tree with four strands. I made a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond right after this picture was taken because holy Hannah my tree needed two more strands of lights!

We decorated the tree that night with some new baubles that Talmage picked out at the store, plus all of our special family ornaments. The boys asked so many questions about each ornament and it was such a fun, festive night together talking about our Christmas memories. We blasted Christmas music, ate chocolate and popcorn, and when the tree was finished the boys put the star on top.

I feel like all I have done since the tree has been up is take pictures of the tree. I'm obsessed! I want pictures in every light and from every angle. I want close-ups of ornaments and close-ups of the pine needles and you wouldn't believe how fast your phone can fill up with Christmas tree pictures when you really love your Christmas tree. And I do, in fact, REALLY love this tree. For your viewing pleasure, there are two pictures of my tree above: by day and by night. If you want sunrise, dusk or any other camera angle just let me know and I'll text it right over!