O Christmas Tree

For Family Home Evening this week we decided to pick out and decorate our Christmas tree. Joe and I both grew up with live trees and, though the maintenance is a bit inconvenient, I love having the look and smell of a real tree in our home. The day that tree goes up is the day it starts to feel like Christmastime to me. My kids love all the activities associated with this season and to make the most of this one, they insisted on checking out every tree in the lot.
We hid between a few too.

I'm not sure where Chloe picked up flashing the peace sign in pictures but she did that in quite a few of the pictures we took this night. Here are Joe and the kids next to the winning tree.

In years past our trees have been taller but with Adam being the perfect age to be interested in the tree, we decided to go a little smaller this year - less for him to pull over onto himself should he reach it once it was placed on top of something. Funny though, in the excitement to get the tree decorated we forgot to place it on top of our higher, away from toddlers, stand. So far he has kept his distance - it's Chloe and Noah I am having a hard time keeping the tree away from.


So while Joe got the tree set up, Chloe and Noah wrote letters to Santa. Both insisted on cutting out a few pictures just in case Santa did not know what toys they were talking about. Do you think they have a few specific items in mind this year??

While the kids wrote, Adam was happy just wandering. I love his smile.

My least favorite part of having a real tree? Putting up the lights. When I am trying to get the lights evenly spaced and perfect I always wonder why we don't have a prelit tree. I take a breath, remember the irreplaceable smell and keep at the lights.
Chloe and Noah love helping with the ornaments and as they have developed collections of their own, love seeing them each year.

Before leaving the lot Noah asked us if he could put up the start this year. Cutest moment of the night when he asked. He was so excited I let him put up the star before we were completely done decorating.

With the tree and house decorating down, and trips to the Christmas Village and Salt Lake Temple Square, baking days and Christmas parties ahead, this really is the most wonderful time of the year!