Growing up both Chris and I always had a live tree for Christmas. We would go out to a Christmas tree farm and spend forever picking the perfect tree then eating our free candy canes on the ride home. I love the smell of fresh pine and I remember how dad would slice a piece off the trunk for my sister and I to each put in our rooms. We would watch Christmas movies and carefully select ornaments to put on the tree. I am so fond of those memories. Even though Fallon is too young to understand, we still want to start making those kinds of memories with her.
When I moved out I had a fake tree for awhile because I didn't think I could handle a real one on my own. But I missed having the real tree, despite the mess and having cats to contend with. This year we didn't make it out to the Christmas tree farm but we did go pick out a live tree at a cute little lot near our house. I wore green plaid flannel and Fallon wore Christmas jammies and boots and had the sweet old man working there absolutely smitten. She was so excited to see all the trees and I swear she "chose" the one we took home when daddy pulled it out. It was her first Christmas tree picking experience and it was better than we could have planned.
Chris got the tree all set up in our living room and put the lights on it we had from last year for me. Then it was my job to decorate. Well, although fun, it's quite a job, and life got in the way. It took me a few days longer than I had hoped, but I finally trimmed that tree. If you followed my Instastory you know I ended up taking down last year's lights because I wanted "warm white" instead of "bright white". Of course I put them on backwards (with the plug at the top) and had to take them off and put them back on. WHY?! But once I started putting up ornaments and seeing ones from when I was a kid, I just got all the warm fuzzy Christmas feelings. I tied some ribbon on for a finishing touch and wrapped a $20 white furry blanket around the base (because I'm too cheap to pay $50 for a tree skirt!).
The lights are crooked and uneven. The ornaments don't all match. The ribbon has frayed edges because I bought the wrong kind. But when I turned on the lights and showed my baby girl, she lit up brighter than any Christmas tree I've ever seen and our tree instantly became perfect. One day when she's old enough, I will be able to show pictures of her first Christmas tree and remember the way she smiled, reaching for the colored ornaments and wiggling with excitement.
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