This Christmas will be the 15th Christmas that Shawn and I have celebrated as a married couple. Of those 15 Christmases, all but two have included a live (real) tree. On the 2 occasions we had false (artificial) trees, we had no choice and really hated the tree. Each of us seperately came to the conclusion that we NEVER wanted a false tree and are glad that we both agree. For Shawn, it is hard enough to even buy a tree from a nursery as he cut down his own trees almost all of his life. And, I must admit the best tree experiences I've ever had have come from the times we cut down our own tree. (My favorite being when Shawn was so enamored with a tree that was HUGE. It was so huge that it took several members of the University of Idaho football team to help him carry it out. We also had to cut several feet off just to get it to fit in our apartment and had greens for EVERYONE who wanted any. ) Our real trees are gorgeous, smell beautiful, and are one of our family's favorite part of Christmas. They are, however, not without mishap. There was the cat climbing the tree incident which resulted in numerous broken ornaments and a VERY wet carpet, the time we didn't know the\at soft needled trees dried out so fast- and resulted in a very crispy tree we had to take down the day after Christmas, and my personal favorite- a visit to a tree farm where the paint the trees to look green. (No joke, the trees were orange in the summer and they paint them green- even the bark is green- it's the u-cut place on the way to Rochester for those of you in the area).
As for false trees, they are not without their own amusing stories. I have 1 brother who for years would simply store his false tree already decorated in the closet. On December 1st he pulled it out and plugged it in, on January 1st he put it back in the closet. As a child our dog managed to knock our tree down several times and I know of family who used the plastic white tree that has no needles-only lights on the branches- the kind meant for your front lawn as their tree because their cats climbed the false tree they kept in their house and knocked it over too many times.
So which are you doing this year and why? Have a great tree story? Share it here, I'd love to hear it.
We had a great time going to get our Christmas tree. We took some friends who are new to the area and new to cutting your own tree down with us and had a great morning. After getting our tree set up- but not decorated, we headed to Rochester to do some shopping. We were seeing the "Christmas Forest" at one store when Charlie leaned in and said, "how will Emily and I share our Christmas tree? ", referring to a homely red tinsel tree I bought as a Valentine's Tree several years ago when the girls could not bear to take the Christmas Tree down. So, C and E had claimed it in their room each Christmas. Now that they don't share a room anymore, Charlie needed her own. There were trees on sale for $7 so I bought her one. Em, seeing that Char's tree actually looks like a tree (is green and not made out of tinsel) wanted one as well. Lily of course decided she must have one as well- and has inherited the red tinsel tree. So, Our Real Tree Only house now has 1 beautiful large REAL tree- and 3 false trees- 4 if you count the Charlie Brown one I bought for Shawn's office. So that crow is tasty pretty fake right now......
The girls all danced in The Nutcracker this weekend, and Charlie danced in the St. Lucia Festival as well. They all did a great job and had a great time. The only problem was that Lily needed to sit with us except for her dance and the final curtain call. It was my job to get Lily to the dressing room and to pick her up again. When Lily was dancing I noticed a mistake that I had made, instead of her dance slippers she was wearing her winter boots! (the picture where she has her dance slippers on is the rehearsal) She looked so cute but I was embarrassed. Also, Shawn's mom, Kathy made Lily's "costume", it was the beautiful Christmas dress from last year. I barely fit, but looked so cute and all of the other "cookies" were envious of the fact that Lily's dress had jingle bells sewn in. I hope your holiday season is going as wel as ours. Happy Holidays!!!!
I went to twilight with a group of great friends. It was a ton of fun. The movie was FABULOUS. I absolutely loved seeing the characters come to life. And, while at times the scenes weren't what I'd imagine, they were still so worth watching. which I am very glad for because I'm off to watch it again tomorrow with Charlie. 
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