The Tree

Our tradition is to decorate for Christmas right after my birthday. Not too early - the people who put up a tree before Thanksgiving are just nuts - and not too late. So, on December 5 we made our way out to hunt for the perfect tree. As a rule, the family must deck out in Christmas colors and thanks to a sweet woman that works at my Dad's office who sent us a box of her girls' hand-me-downs, we had a great top for Annaliese. We may have gotten into it a little...

Kenny had done some recon and knew exactly where to go. So we saddled up the Zafira and headed to the mountain behind our village. It was my first time on this particular road and it was a delight to find such beauty so near. I can't wait to walk with Annaliese there when Spring comes. The land is very rocky and we were completely surrounded by rock, no green in sight. It felt very other-worldly. We followed a little mountain stream and finally came to a spot with some plant-life across the stream and up the mountain across the way. And I could only laugh. Annaliese and I passed on the chance to wade the creek and hike the steep and we stayed in the car. 

We watched Kenny climb up and chop down our little beauty of a tree and were quite proud of our very own lumberjack. If you look closely, you can see Kenny in the center of this photo. 

He grabbed the first "appropriate" tree he saw and we watched the bush make it's way down and back across the water. The tree needed a little help, maybe, but we loved it at first sight and we loved our little Christmas season adventure. I know we'll look forward to this each year. 

Kenny did a little cosmetic work, took off the bottom branches and tied them into the bare spots, and stuck it into out homemade tree stand. Kenny is an excellent problem-solver. I basically married McGuyver. The 2013 Haggard tree is quite that. Haggard. It wanted to lean, but thanks to some string and a command hook, she stands straight and proud. Ta daaaa....

We put on our Christmas tunes and got busy decorating. Annaliese had fun with the ornaments.

She got tired and we had to finish the decorating without her, but she put on the first couple balls. She enjoyed it the next morning in all it's glory and loved it. 

Since I've been busy with some other small decorations. Hopefully I'll make time to share those photos. I'm proud of our DIY decor. We are enjoying preparing for this special season with some advent readings and have big plans for celebrating with neighbors in the coming week. Missing home terribly at this time of year, but it's so nice to begin some new traditions in our little family of three. Merry Christmas!