Before Thanksgiving I’m a scrooge.  A bah humbug.  I don’t believe Christmas should be dragged out for 3 months.  I love Christmas but it fits nicely into December.  After Thanksgiving?  Bring it!  I love the carols, the food, the tree, and the joy on my kids’ faces.  I am a huge fan of the traditions that we pass along.  The Christmas crackers, mince pies, chinese food on the eve.  What’s not to like?  And the great tradition?  Getting the tree.

When I was a kid, when trees were cheap, my dad started the game of what’s the least amount we can spend on a great looking tree?  For years we would get trees for less than $10.  It was a point of pride.  Our chances were increased because we waited until after my sister’s birthday so we wouldn’t get a tree until a week or two before Christmas so vendors were looking to get rid of inventory.  And because we followed the 12 days of Christmas and kept the tree up until the 7th of January we never missed out on tree time.

This past weekend it was time to get our tree.  We go to a tree farm just north of us.  They have free donuts and hot chocolate.  It was an easy choice to keep going to this farm.  Plus they really make it an adventure for the families.  Once you are able to find a parking space, which isn’t always easy as this is a very popular spot, you get in line for the horse drawn carriages which take you down to the trees then bring you back again with your trees.

They even play Christmas carols for the ride.  As it is usually bitter cold we all huddle together for warmth.  We did quite well this year as we found our tree as soon as we got off the carriage.  Usually it takes awhile as we compare and search.  We have high ceilings so it needs to be tall, full but not overly wide.  Not always easy to find.  But this year it was waiting for us.  🙂

Then it was the ride back for the donuts and hot chocolate while we waited for our tree to catch up with us.  It was very busy so they couldn’t get all the trees up at the same time.  The next day we decorated it, good thing for ladders!  I love our decorations.  We have blue and white lights which are the colours we used to honour Grammy at Christmas time but as they are so pretty I continued it, we have glass ornaments I got from Harrods when I was a student and they were on sale, and we have several ornaments the kids made.  Those are my favourites.  There is one that has our son’s tiny hand print on it.  How they grow.  We hang round the house various paper santas and snowmen they have made over the years.  I’m amazed they survived!

It was quite the task getting the angel to stay up.  It took a complete nose dive to the floor.  Most of it survived.  We had to trim the top a bit so it was stable but we got it to behave.  I love having the regular lights off and just have the tree lights on.  So pretty.  I even like taking my glasses off and have it all a soft blur.

The next step is to organise the presents and start putting them under the tree.  Fortunately our pets leave it all alone!  Though Murphy is always interested in our decorating.  He gets right in the thick of things.  🙂