Our Tree

It is tradition at our house to ring in the Christmas season by picking out, purchasing, and decorating our Christmas tree the weekend of Thanksgiving.

Luke and I went out on Saturday morning on a mission to find the perfect tree. It felt strange to me, because the weather was unseasonably warm and sunny. And it still feels like it should be about Halloween to me since time has been flying by all semester. So it felt odd.

Once we got it inside, however, and I started pulling boxes of ornaments out of the attic, I was immediately in Christmas mode. We spent the day decorated while we watched the Ohio State/Michigan game. And then we enjoyed our cozy tree all evening:

We chose the big, vintage-style colorful lights this year, and I think they're fun!

Each ornament carries its own set of memories...

This is Gabby's 4th Christmas and Ellie's 3rd. You'd think they'd be used to the tree and lights by now. But no. They make me slightly nervous!

It didn't take long for them to warm up to the tree, though. Literally. The lights give off a good amount of heat, and it's the cats' favorite place to sleep now. (Don't worry, we are super careful about only turning the lights on when we are in the living room).

What a great way to end the Thanksgiving weekend, and begin the Christmas season! I am still gradually pulling out other decorations to transform the whole house a little at a time. Last year the entire house was decorated the day after Thanksgiving, and I had two trees up! My Christmas cards were all completed and ready to send out the first week of December. This year is so different. I've been so busy with school, I'm nowhere near as ahead of the game. But I suppose each year is different. And I only have two weeks of class left! As soon as I'm done with finals, I'll have plenty of time to spend on Christmasy things :-)