Christmas Tree Day

There is one day a year that gets me ridiculously excited...

Christmas Tree Day!!!

This isn't a recent development - I have very vivid memories of this same day as a kid.  It would start on or around 6:01PM Thanksgiving Day when I would relentlessly ask my mom when we would be getting The Christmas Tree and break out the decorations.  Would it be tomorrow?  Next week?  Or, heaven forbid, the week after?

When we finally did acquire said Christmas Tree, my mom and I would decorate it together (aside from the lights.  she was a perfectionist with the lights.  and every tree was proof of that!).  There was a very specific order of decoration:  the white mini lights and big colored bulb lights (carefully wrapped around rolled up newspapers the year before), the bubble lights (best part!), the gold/silver garland, the red bead garland, the ornaments, the angel, and the crowning touch: the tinsel.  I was always given the honor of picking and hanging the very first ornament each year.  It was a task I took very seriously, and I would always arrive at the same first ornament - our Dutch Sinterklaas.

Once we were FINALLY done decorating the tree, we would make some Dutch hot chocolate, turn off all the lights except for the tree, sit on the couches in front of the tree, and just enjoy the twinkling lights and sparkling ornaments. It. was. beautiful.

Fast forward...a lot...of years.

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2011

When I started dating Hubs, it was right around Christmastime. In true new boyfriend fashion, he was willing to do anything and everything to make me happy those first few years. That included handing over the control of his precious car radio to me, and also meant that he was subjected to endless playing of Christmas music as a result. He dutifully took me to Home Depot where he would shake out as many snow-covered trees as I wanted while shivering in the cold November night until I found "the" tree. He managed to shove the tree into his tiny little Cavalier and set it up for me in my townhouse while I pranced around singing O Christmas Tree and making hot chocolate. 

Christmas 2007 making our gingerbread village from scratch - We were BABIES!

While things have definitely changed the last few years, one thing is constant: a day devoted to finding The Christmas Tree. 

This year, we met Braddy, Boochie, Nana, and Papa for the Hobbit breakfast at Denny's (a new tradition carried over from last year when Peanut was still tiny enough to sleep through everything in his infant carrier - SOB), and then trekked to Cosley Zoo to find a tree. Unfortunately, Hubs' willingness to go along with whatever sized tree I wanted seems to have dwindled. (He is understandably tired of hauling that thing up to the 5th floor alone and sawing it into pieces to dispose of it - again - alone.). To make a long story short - we didn't get a tree there because I felt he was too annoyed for any of us to enjoy it.  It was a mutual buzzkill.

The kid kills me with his cuteness.

At least we got a somewhat good picture!

But being the amazing and understanding husband that he is, he drove out to Home Depot solo while Peanut was napping and got us an amazing tree (it was def way bigger than he wanted to get - the guy loves me).  And not just a tree - he went to another store and got the three of us an ornament.

For Peanut, he got a baby shoe since he learned how to walk this year.

For me, a coffee cup...also very representative of this past year!

And for himself, an awesome cigar.

In the spirit of tradition, Peanut and I hung the first ornament on the tree.

But after that, he was more interested in "rearranging" any ornaments that he could reach.

So, while it's true that things have changed since the years of helping my mom decorate the tree (hello college, career, marriage, and a baby), some things stay the same...

Sitting on a couch in a dark room, twinkling lights, sparkling ornaments, and Christmas Tree Day.