Phase one is complete

We got our tree yesterday and got it decorated. It was by far the most fun we've had picking out trees since the excitement of picking out our first Christmas tree as a married couple. Emma was running up and down the aisles, picking the ugliest trees on the lot and announcing "THIS is the one daddy! Pull it out so mama can see how beautiful it is". Grant, also with an eye for the ugly, was pointing at various trees with vigor, mostly the trees that were still wrapped up. We got cute pictures of them holding hands in front of a bunch of trees, we waved at cars driving by, Emma chatted up a few other tree hunters. Anyway, we found an awesome tree and got it home and decorated before dinner. It's HUGE for our standards, I had to stand on a stool to get the tree topper on (no short jokes please). It's also quite barren since we have zero breakable ornaments on it. Grant is great about not bothering the tree unless the lights are on but I have no doubts that will change when he starts walking.

Speaking of lights, hanging the lights outside was a comedic debacle. We ran out of lights like a foot short of the end of the house. Ghe-tto. And of course, the store was out of the kind we needed. So three stores later, we settled on some that sort of looked the same. I'll say it again, Ghe-tto. See, this is why I don't like hanging lights outside! Emma was in love with the whole process, and helped hubs by handing him the plastic things the lights hang on. We made no less than three trips outside to look at the lights once it got dark. And our neighbors got to enjoy our lights alllll night long because we forgot to turn them off before we went to bed. I know we can use a timer, but it's plugged into the tree lights.

Isn't it interesting how life events can really have an influence on the Christmas season. I was thinking about our various past Christmas seasons and how what we had going on in our lives really influenced the season. Our first married Christmas can be summed up with the word giddiness. We were dirt poor, but so excited to be getting our first tree together, and buying a few ornaments for it. It was a total Charlie Brown tree, but it was OUR tree! We even took pictures next to it. The next year I have no memory of at all, then we were in Italy so no decorations came out at all and it almost seemed like Christmas didn't happen. That's the year I realized family plays a huge part in my Christmas experience. It was so hard for me to be away from my parents that year. The next few years are a blur as we lived separately while I finished school and we moved to our current residence. Then we had Miss Emma and the life change of having a baby left me so drained we got a tree a week before Christmas, threw a few ornaments on it, and sent out New Years cards. Last year things started to get interesting as Emma asked endless questions about the tree and stockings and presents. This year has been magic and I truly feel like I'm seeing the wonder of Christmas all over again. Emma is so awed by everything, and so excited about every aspect of decorating and visiting Santa and getting her stocking out and reading Christmas books. She asks me every single morning if today is Christmas Eve. She's excited to tell me about Baby Jesus and how he was "born in a barn because one two three four hotels were all full". I'm really looking forward to the next several years as the kids are young enough to be enveloped by the wonder and awesomeness of Christmas.