The Tree is Up!

We put our tree up last night. No, it's not a real one. We decided about eight or nine years ago to take the artificial route when it comes to trees. The real ones are nice and pretty, until the needles start to fall off. Plus, we always had to borrow a truck to go get it, then there was the disposal. Nope....just going in the attic and getting it out of a box is so much easier. We even purchased a prelit one to take the tangled strands of lights out of the mix too. All in all, we're very happy with it.

Anyway, back to trimming the tree. It's always Darrin and Garrett's job to assemble the tree. Payton and I just sat back and enjoyed some Christmas music and egg nog while watching them. Soon, it was our turn to pitch in by adding the garland (silver beads) though. Then, it's time for the boys favorite part...the ornaments. They love to recall stories about each one. "I remember when I made this..." or "We got this one because I liked Bob the Builder then." Each year we add a new ornament to our collection for each of the boys. We buy one to represent what their main interest was the previous year. This year Garrett got a soccer ornament as this was his first year playing soccer. Payton got a baseball one because it was the first time he played tee ball. They both also have the Hallmark ornament series of "my first Christmas" through my fifth Christmas. They always group them right on top of each other on the tree. We have several that have pictures of the boys on them too. It's amazing to see how much they've changed.

Of course Darrin and I have our own special ornaments as well. We have "Our first Christmas Together (1991)," he has lots of golf themed ones and I have my share of carousel horses. We stopped using our "new home" ornamens after our fourth one! We used to collect ornaments from different vacation destinations, but that was when we just needed ornaments....before we had to kids to supply us with plenty. These days the majority of mine and Darrin's ornaments just stay in the box because there's just not enough room on that poor tree.

We're still using our same K-Mart angel that we bought our first Christmas together in Tallahassee, FL. Although, after 15 years Darrin did have to finally rewire her with new lights last night. Now, she looks brand new again. I always see new, prettier angels every year that would look so nice atop our tree, but I'm a stickler for tradition. We'll have our K-Mart girl forever I suppose. Speaking of her, it was Payton's turn to put her on this year. That's always a big deal for them....whose turn it is.

After the tree was complete and the mess had been cleaned up, we all just sat back and enjoyed it along with the roaring fire Darrin had made to warm us up. We had a nice family evening and now even Darrin is in the Christmas spirit! Payton's question when we were all done....."well, when's Santa coming?"