O Christmas Tree!

It's an exciting time of year! Time to put up the Christmas tree! This is the first time in our almost 4 years of marriage that we'll be having Christmas at our house and hence our very first Christmas tree!

Our very first Christmas together, we were engaged. The Christmas after that we went to Italy. Then the two Christmases after that, we've gone to Utah. Since Alex is so little, we decided to stay home this year. The thought of driving 10+ hours in a car with a 2 month old, who hates his car seat, doesn't sound very appealing. Then, having to stop and nurse, etc. It's just easier to stay home.

I'm actually kind of glad that we'll be home this year. As much fun as it is to go somewhere and be with family, I'm looking forward to being in our own home and starting our own family traditions and kind of doing our own family thing. It will be kind of weird not to have family around on Christmas Day and stuff, but Dan's family is coming out a few days later. We'll have our family fun then.

So the first order of business is to put up the tree. We put it up on Saturday and kept telling Anna that we were going to put up the tree, put lights on it, then add ornaments. It was kind of a busy morning, but we finally got around to putting it up. We have a fake tree this year. This is the first time I've had a fake tree. Growing up we always had a real tree. However, last year in Utah, we found one on clearance after Christmas. We figured after a few years, we would save money in the long run. I used to be opposed to fake trees, but now I'm fine. I really like ours.

Dan and Anna opening the box with the tree.

We got the first part of it set up. This was actually really boring for Anna, because she couldn't really help. And it didn't look like a tree, so it wasn't anything exciting yet.

Last year, I bought a whole bunch of ball ornaments on clearance and at the thrift store. We had a lot to put up. Here, the tree is decorated, mostly. Anna found a little flower in the Christmas decorations and wanted to put it in her hair.

Anna was so cute when we started putting the balls on. She realized she couldn't actually hang the hooks very well, so she just handed the balls to us. Then she figured out how to open the boxes with them and kept saying, "I'm going to open this for you, okay?" And then kept handing us the balls at an exuberant rate. :)

Here is our finished tree!

We still need to add a star. I'm working on it, folks. :)

It's always so hard to take a picture of a tree and make it look good. They always look so much better in real life. The whole decoration is kind of haphazard. I had the balls and the candle sticks (that my mom made a few years ago), and a few days later added the poinsettias. I like it overall, but I think it would be different if I actually had a plan from the beginning. :)

I did make a Christmas tree skirt. I was thinking of buying fabric, when I remembered I still had a lot left from our duvet cover. I used that and it actually doesn't look too bad and is kind of Christmasy. We have some ornament balls that have swirls on them as well, so it all matches. I need to sew a border on it, but that might just have to wait till next year. This was a simple project, but took me forever to actually get it done. Every time I started, I'd have to stop and do something with one of my sweet, cute, children. :)

It will be a lot of fun to see Anna on Christmas morning when there are presents under the tree and she'll get to open them. We're trying to teach her about Jesus and that he's the reason for Christmas. I think she kind of gets it. I think our next family activity will be making Christmas cookies!