oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree!

so, after much begging and pleading, justin finally gave in and let me buy a real christmas tree! it is PERFECT! it is a little over 6 feet and the shape is perfect, it's pretty full all the way around and no big "holes". it's a noble fir (which i'm pretty sure is the same kind i always got as a kid) and the smell is fantastic! justin only had one request for next year (and i'm ok with the request), that we go chop down our own next year (and the many years to come). i would've been fine doing that this year if i had known that was allowed. in california, you're only allowed to chop down one at a christmas tree farm, and those are usually super expensive. i guess here, you just have to get a permit and then you can go chop down your own. so, next year starts that tradition, i guess.

as for decorating the tree, i feel like my tree is so naked. it has probably close to 40 balls on it (of different colors) and i think like 5 "centimental" ornaments, but that's it. it sounds like a lot, but comparatively to the size, it's really not that much. plus i always compare it to my mom's tree that is full of ornaments, no room for any balls, and there are barely enough branches to fit all of the ornaments. also, growing up we always made sure our tree had lots of lights. i remember being little and my dad would sit and plug the strands of lights together and make sure they were all working. well, as of now, we have one strand of lights on the tree, which in my opinion isn't enough. justin says it's fine, but i say the more lights the better! but, now that it's all decorated (or at least it's decorated with all of the stuff we have), we now just need the top and bottom for our tree, the star, angel, whatever (i told justin he got to pick what goes on the top of our tree) and our tree skirt. target, here we come! i'm really hoping that justin picks something "traditional" and not like a deer or elk or something like that. but, lets face it, would that surprise anyone if he did pick something like that? i don't think so!

despite what i said about our lack of ornaments, i really enjoyed decorating the tree. it would've been a lot more enjoyable had my husband helped more, but he's a boy, what can i expect. he hung i think 3 ornaments, and he'll be the one who puts our tree topper on. but, decorating the tree made me think back and remember decorating my family's christmas tree every year with my brother and sister. mom would sit on the couch and separate all of the ornaments, who's was who's and who got to put up what of mom's ornaments and family ornaments. she would lay out the ornaments on the couch and coffe table, and each of us had a spot and she'd put the hooks on so we could just grab and go. our christmas tree always looked perfect, and mom was always super anal about where ornaments went on the tree. so, we'd get a lesson when we were little on how to hang ornaments. you don't hang them toward the trunk of the tree, and you don't hang them on the tip of the branch. you go in about 2 inches and... perfect. also, no hanging 2 ornaments on one branch and we were never allowed to hang ornaments right next to each other. i know, this all sounds super crazy and ocd, but it was always so fun as a kid, getting excited to be "allowed" to put the ornaments on the tree, and making the tree look beautiful and perfect!

i hope that when justin and i have kids, i can continue on with some of my family's traditions. justin's never been big on holidays, but i love them. i love the family time and traditions. hopefully someday we'll have a house where we can fit a big tree, like we used to have growing up. but, whatever size the tree, it doesn't matter, as long as we are together, carrying on traditions, celebrating as a family, and remembering the reason for the season, i will be happy!

merry christmas everyone, and look forward to more "first christmas" posts throughout the month!