Christmas Traditions

So many Christmas traditions, less than a month to fit them all in.

On Tuesday night, we headed out to find a Christmas tree. I grew up having a live tree every year. Mikey is a strong convert who probably supports the tradition more than I do. After driving around for over 30 minutes, we still had not come across a tree lot. Sure we could have gone to Home Depot or Lowes, but that just seems wrong. I wanted the lot with the white lights strung around and the fire burning in the barrel. Lucy was not happy to be a part of the search and we decided to give up for the night when alas, a little tree lot out our car window. No pictures were taken of the actual lot experience. The fire wasn't burning because they were out of wood and it was very dimly lit. In the dark, I chased Lucy between trees and we found the "perfect" tree for our cinder block castle. We negotiated the price, ran to the ATM after realizing neither one of us had cash, and watched the man give the tree a nice, fresh cut. The man then told us he had no change and wouldn't drop the price further. SO, off the Harmon's we went (I needed milk anyway) to break a $20. Finally, we had our tree.





These pictures were taken in the car as the tree was being tied to the car. Aidan thought the flash was too bright to handle.

Wednesday night, after I had put on the lights and ribbon, the kids and I decorated the tree. Lucy again was not very excited - I think she might have another ear infection and she is cutting her 2 year old molars. I forgot how excited the kids are to pull out all of the decorations every year. So many memories with each ornament (and this coming from a very unsentimental person).



Poor Lucy had been hit in the head with a seat belt in the car earlier in the day - hence the nice cut/bruise/welt on her forehead.



After the tree was decorated, we began our first night of advent activities. We completed the three calendars, unwrapped the nightly Christmas book to read from under the tree, read the corresponding nightly Christmas scripture, and sang the nightly Christmas song. Mikey was at a study group for all of this. By the time he got home, I was so exhausted from manning the ship I told him it was a miracle so many Christmas traditions are passed down. This is definitely not a lazy man's holiday - but what wonderful memories we create each year because of them!

And the result (despite the fact our tree isn't drinking water and will probably be dead in a week):







Loving the season.