Oh, Christmas Tree

So, the plan this year was to buy our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving since we were actually home (with no plans!).  But...then we chickened out.  That's a whole lotta weeks to have a live tree in our home, and our house is so small that 4 weeks of decorations just about drive me nuts...I love, love decorating for Christmas, but I also love, love taking it all down in January and having just a basic, clean house for a while.  :)

We made time this past weekend to decorate our tree, so off we went Thursday night to buy our tree.  That way we could get straight to the decorating this weekend.

Or...not.  But man, we did have a great weekend!

So, the new plan was to decorate the tree Monday night.  Last night.  Only, one of us commuted to Houston for work and got stuck in CRAZY traffic coming home.  So maybe we got a later start than we planned.  Daddyboy and I just looked at each other and agreed, it was TIME to get the tree up--the kids could stay up late one night.   :)

My favorite part of decorating the tree is opening the boxes and telling the kids the story behind each ornament...and remembering.

Each year we give our kids a Hallmark ornament for Christmas.  Whether they like it or not (and we hope they love it!), when they get married they'll already have a lifetime of ornaments that tell their story, ready for their trees.

When I was 9 (in 1983 if you must know), my Grandma Weseloh started the tradition of buying ornaments for all of us grandkids, which is where it started for us.  When she was unable to continue the tradition, Mom and Dad started buying ornaments for us.  So I have almost 30 years of ornaments that tell my story on our family tree., along with a few really early ones.  This is the ornament that started it all.  She's broken now, and out of rotation, but this year I had Kayci put her on our dresser so I could enjoy her again.  Man, I miss my Grandma.

Our tree is perfectly imperfect, as one of my favorite bloggers would say.  In addition to our bought ornaments, there are tons of kid-made ornaments.  It was fun last night looking at their 1-year old ornaments and comparing the size of their hands then and now.  Oh, how time flies, y'all.  

Each year we have our jobs:  Daddyboy puts on the lights (NOT my favorite!), and I sit on the floor and open ornaments and hand them to the kids, telling them the story of each one.  Then Daddyboy helps them place the ornaments on the tree (unless it's an unbreakable one, then we just let them have at it).

It's too early to go out there and take a picture, but I got a good laugh last night...last year was the first year Bubby was big enough to help with real ornaments.  Yeah.  I'm thinking we were a year early--at least 2 of our Hallmark ornaments are glued together with notes "Noble dropped, 2011."  But you know, being THAT KID is part of his story.  Someday his wife's going to get a big kick out of it!

It's been a little tough for Bitty to share the job of putting the angel on the tree--after all, it's been her job for YEARS.  Last year Daddyboy let both kids put the angel on, and he did it again this year.  I'm thinking we've spent enough on his back...next year we'll flip for it.  :)

And that's it.  It still needs a little garland for a finishing touch, but that's our story.  It's the kind of tree one either loves or hates.  But to me, a fir tree dressed with our story is a Christmas tradition.

Oh, Christmas tree.  You were a long time coming this year, but man, we're glad you're here.

I used to overload December with activities and too many traditions to count, but last year and this year we've kind of toned it down.  I realized I was focusing too much on the DOING and not enough on the BEING.  So this year, I'm not sure what we'll do.  Since it's December 4th, guess I better figure it out.  I know the kids are excited about the Advent calendar, so looks like I'll be working on that today.  Our Elf on the Shelf has been visiting, of course, but she's JUST an elf, not one of those mischievous ones.