The Perfect Tree

Welp. This is going to be totally out of order.

Remember when I told you we had a super fun day choosing our tree and then decorating it? Yes. Long ago and before Christmas... we had a really wonderful family day.

We drove halfway to Floyd to a tree farm that sells any size tree for only $10. Limited to a tree that's not terribly tall, we searched and searched until we found the perfect one (for us). Here it is on the right of Ian :)

 Ian walked all over that farm with us until we found the tree, and then he hitched a ride with Papa.

 I just love watching these two together.

 The owner couldn't find our flagged tree on his first round, so he invited us to ride along with him. Ian was on cloud nine.

 And then, not only did the owner saw down the tree for us, he strapped it to our car, too. Talk about service! All for $10. I love where we live.

 That night we decorated the tree. This is actually our first, real tree as a couple and a family. Prior to this Jim and I had a Norfolk Southern Pine and another little potted pine tree. Last year we didn't even get our own tree because we were living with friends in Richmond. This year, we had the real deal and therefore purchased our first stand, too.

 Next year we'll upgrade to a tree full of lights, too. Ha! We were so content to just have the tree and our ornaments this year. The most fun I've ever had decorating for Christmas was with this little man. He was so excited each time we unwrapped a new (to him) ornament, found a hook, and got to hang it on the tree.

 Jim & I just sat back and soaked in all of his amazement. It's a joy to marvel at the wonder of a child.

 Yowzers. We haven't taken many pictures of me this pregnancy. When I uploaded these pictures I was shocked to see how massive my belly is!! I was 30 weeks in these pictures.

 We found the ornament we made for Ian's first Christmas and compared his growth! He thought that this was really neat. For the rest of the season he would point to it and talk about how it was his foot as a baby. Every guest got the full tour (his mistletoes from PMO, his Christmas wreath from PMO, his Christmas tree made at PMO, his CD ornament with his picture from PMO, his "boot" that he made in a nursery at the church in Philly, the cinnamon ornaments that he mixed and then painted with me... I think that might have been everything).

 One of his favorite books to read this year was this incredible book my mom gave me when I was teaching kindergarten. It's The 12 Days of Christmas with pop-up pictures on each page. He found this to be mesmerizing and we sang through it often.

Tomorrow we plan to take down our decorations. It's always hard for me to do, but it will be January 7th. Our tree has had a good run. What fun it was to share this holiday season with our little man!

Stay tuned for family visits & Christmas pictures.