One Tree Up, 2343274 More Christmas Things to Do

I love Christmas Trees. When I was little I always wanted a big tree in the front window of my house. Unfortunately, all of the front windows were bedrooms. I would have gladly put a tree in my room, but no such luck.

When Brian and I were dating, we always put up one tree in the den in the back of the house. One year when Dave lived here he knocked down the Christmas Tree. Like, it fell down. The coffee table still has a nick in it. Dave denies any wrong doing in this situation, but let's be honest, this isn't the first time that Dave has broken something and not taken responsibility for it (picture frame anyone?).... Anyway, the first year that we were married, I decided I wanted a tree in the front of the house too. Brian went along with it, especially when I suggested that we make it a "Yankee Tree." Since it's in the Yankee Room, I thought we should theme it to go with it's surroundings. We have collected a lot of Yankee ornaments, from players (Hallmark usually makes one Yankee a year), to little baseballs, to nutcrackers. I decided to buy the Christmas ball ornaments in Yankee colors and got white lights and a few strands of blue to accent. I really like it. And it's right in the front window! The first year we used a small live tree, but my Mom bought us a fake tree really cheaply at an after Christmas sale that year, so we've used it ever since.

I love real trees, so that's what we use for our family tree. It's full of ornaments that Brian and I have had since we were kids, plus a ton that we've gotten since we got married. My intention was to put up the tree last week and put some pictures of it up, but we've been so busy that we haven't gotten to it yet. We're hoping to go to Hunt Club tomorrow with Dave, Stephanie and Natalie to pick it out. We also have some tickets to the Winter Wonderland area there so we can take Wyatt.

Our list of Christmassy things just keeps getting longer. Brian still has to decorate the outside of the house, we have the tree to put up, we want to take Wyatt to a parade out in Brian's old stomping grounds tomorrow, and there's a ton of other stuff we want to do. Fortunately we have one tree and the stockings and other decorations out. Half of my Christmas cards are addresses and ready to go and I hope to finish the other half tonight. We're just trying to stay busy around here!

Noelle has her own "display" around her stocking. Can you tell she was a Christmas present?
Wyatt and Reese's stockings

All of the stockings...and Reese!

The tree in the Yankee Room

Our A Rod ornament

Yes, Santa Claus is a Yankee Fan

This one lights up!

DEREK! He is the centerpiece of the tree.

The tree.