It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

We finally got our tree up over the weekend. I usually like to do all decorating the weekend after (in fact, typically the day after) Thanksgiving. However, the last few years our tree has become quite dry and brittle the week leading up to Christmas, so that paired with rainy weather post-Thanksgiving prompted us to push the tree business back a week. Last weekend we put up most of the red and green decorations, the Nativity scenes, the various candles and stuffed animals that represent the holiday season. But I think we can all agree it's just not the same without the tree. I'd heard about a local tree farm that allowed patrons to cut down their own tree, adding significant life to the tree in addition to the fun that could ensue with two kids under four and a tree saw. After naps today we decided to give it a try. The kids totally got into it. Eli told everyone at church today, "We're gonna cut down a Christmas tree...a big, BIG one." Maddux loved walking around and petting all of the trees. And once we decided on one, Eli was all about helping Daddy cut it down. Luckily it wasn't too heavy because the one we picked was at the back of the farm, furthest from the cars.

We drove home and had a quick dinner before pulling out the lights and decorations. The kids played pretty well while I strung up the lights (cutting my hands up pretty good in the process). We had Christmas music on and Eli showed off some of his old dance moves. (He tells us about his "new dance moves" quite often these days....today he said he only had old ones.) Maddux joined him sometimes and then pointed and yelled at the tree as it got brighter and brighter. After the lights were up, we allowed Eli to help us decorate. We let Maddie do it too, but she didn't get the concept. Not that Eli did: most of his ornaments ended up all on the same branch. The final product looks pretty nice. It's very different from previous years, but we like it! Here's a quick video spanning our evening; the focus went in and out due to the Christmas lights, but you get the idea.


Eliason Tree 2008 from Nicole Eliason on Vimeo.