O Christmas Tree

Well here it is finally folks... the post about our Christmas tree. Ever since we've been married for the last eight years, we've always gotten a real Christmas tree. We've gotten trees everywhere from Menards to tree farms to Habitat for Humanity as I mentioned in an earlier post. The first year we moved in this house we actually cut down our own Christmas tree. Last year we said we were going to get an artificial tree after Christmas for this year. We always have problems getting the tree in the stand and it tipping over. We ended up never finding one on sale good enough that we liked so that didn't happen. So once again this year we got another real tree. My sister so graciously let us borrow her stand to try. It's one of those swivels stands.

On Saturday we went to Habitat for Humanity and picked out our tree. It was only $20 and it supported a good cause so that's why we went back there. It's fun to go to the tree farms, but the trees are so dang expensive. All the trees there were wrapped up so you kind of have to make your decision based on the height and what type. We knew we wanted a 7.5 ft. tree and a Frasier Fur (that's what we always get because the needles are soft) so that knocked out a bunch of the trees. We still had a good selection to choose from. There were some really tall trees that Evan wanted, but they wouldn't fit in the house since our ceilings are only 9ft. and they were at least 11ft. tall trees. There was one that even looked like it was two trees together because it had two tops for two stars. We finally decided on one and loaded it up on Greg's car. Here's the tree arriving home.


We went to unwrap the tree and Greg let go and it somehow just stood up on it's own. Here it is.

We let the tree warm up all day while we were in GR and then brought it in the house Saturday night. I wanted to try the tree in a different spot this year so we moved the living room around got the tree in and in the stand with no problem. I was thinking, "this was too easy." After a few minutes we decided it was too big for the spot we had it so it needed to be moved. Out of the stand it came and moved furniture around again. This time, not so easy. We got the tree where we wanted it, but it kept leaning, and tipping over, and it was just being a pain! Greg really has no luck with trees and always seems to get in a fight with the tree. After an hour of messing with it, I was done and didn't feel like putting lights on or decorating.

So on Sunday after the winter bowl we came home and Greg helped me string the lights. That didn't go too bad, however there were more lights at the top then bottom. I had to try to move them around. I still think it needs more lights, but I didn't have anymore. It would've meant a trip to the store, and I just wanted it decorated and done. After the lights were done, Evan helped me put on some of the decorations. As I mentioned yesterday, I got our family ornament at the craft show. Every year I get an ornament personalized for our family. It's a tradition I started when we got engaged and have continued with it. Here's all our ornaments over the years.


The first one is kind of a combo year. We got engaged New Year's Eve 1999 in Florida and got this ornament at Disney so it's marked 2000. The next one is a fill in because once again we were at Disney in 2001 and had an ornament personalized, but unfortunately it was broke in my tub of ornaments last year. The next is two bears for 2002 with our names and the house is also for 2002. We got two ornaments that year because that was the year we bought our first house. Next is a space because 2003 is M.I.A right now and it's really bugging me what happened to it. The last one on the top row is from 2004. That was the year I was pregnant with Evan so I got and ornament with a pregnant girl and a guy to represent us. The gingerbread is from 2005 representing Greg, me, and our new little guy Evan. That was our first year to buy an ornament with three things on it. The next one with the reindeer in the canoe is from 2006. This ornament has a sad, but special memory because it's from our trip out west the year Greg's dad passed away and we had gone to spread his ashes. The next one is from 2007 and you can see the ornaments are getting bigger. Our little Emmaline arrived that year, so we had to add another one on the ornament. After that is 2008 with the four of us. It's a little hard to see since it's white on white, but it's each of us with snowballs. The last one of the car with the tree on top is for 2009. It's the one I got at the craft show. I chose this one because I'm thinking this WILL BE the last year we get a real tree so it symbolizes us getting our tree this year. (We're sick of dealing with the tree and tree stand so I'm keeping my fingers crossed I find an artificial tree on sale after Christmas.) So there you have it, all our family ornaments!

After I got the last ornament on the tree, wouldn't you know it... the tree starts to tip. Thank goodness I was standing right there to catch it. Needless to say Greg's fight with the tree wasn't over. I think it got to heavy with ornaments on the bottom since Evan put most of them there because he could only reach so high. After rearranging ornaments, we finally got the tree back up straight and the kids helped me finish off the decorating by putting the candy canes on. Here they are.


Finally my dear readers... here' s the whole finished product. It's really full around. Usually the trees we've gotten in the past don't have so much space from the bottom to the floor as this one. Looks like I need to get wrapping presents so it gets filled in.


Here's another picture that you can see the lights a little better. I'm pretty happy with it. I think it turned out nice for all the trouble we had with it! A little side note... here's my pretty red bows I was telling you about.


Here's one more picture of the tree and part of the living room decorated. You can see some more of the bows. I'd like to finish by wishing our friends Marie and Jim's son Connor a happy birthday.