On Saturday we went on our annual Christmas tree hunt with Ama and Baba. As usual we went to Furrow Farm a few miles from our house so that Nathan could cut down our tree himself. We got all bundled up and had my parents snap a picture while everyone was still all fresh and bright eyed.
It took us a while to find “the one.” This was the first year that there were four opinions for our family instead of just two. It also seemed like the pickin’s were a bit more slim than usual for the size of tree we wanted. Despite some minor difficulty settling on a tree, we had a great time! When we found it, the boys had a fun time watching Daddy cut down the tree.
Later in the afternoon after the tree had dried out a bit in the garage, we brought it inside to decorate. It’s our family tradition to listen to Manheim Steamroller while decorating the tree…a tradition that came from my childhood.
Elias really wanted to put the angel on the tree. At first I thought he was too young, but when I thought some more I realized he could do it just fine. The angel was my grandmother’s and was passed down to me.
The boys just loved decorating the tree. They were pretty careful, and “only” broke two glass ornaments. I know some friends who just don’t do glass ornaments now when the kids are little. Maybe I should save mine since they are also inherited from my grandmother and are antiques. In the end, though, I would just rather enjoy them. The boys both apologized to me about the ornaments. I tried to convey that while the ornaments are important to me and we need to be careful, they are just things in the end, and people are more important than things.
Here is our 2016 tree:
