christmas traditions // NO. 1

every year, the weekend of Thanksgivng, my dad and i go together to get our christmas tree. we look through several to find the right one, twirl them to make sure there aren't too many bad spots, and then i carry it to the car. my dad, always being the gentleman, offers to carry it, but i, being the independent woman that i am, politely refuse. ;) my mom usually stays home and starts decorating the back porch. my dad and i come home with the tree and get started on the front of the house. i decorate the porch railings and he takes care of putting lights on the landscaping. then he puts on the tree lights, and we decorate the tree together that night while listening to classy christmas music.

this year, since i'll be in colorado for thanksgiving, we got our tree a week early and did all of our decorating. my family will be all over the place for the next few weeks and i didn't want to wait until mid-december to get a tree. that's just unheard of! ;) i need AT LEAST a full month of christmas decorations. can i get an amen?

growing up, we had an artificial tree. you know, the ones where each layer of branches has a color assigned to it so you know where it goes? i loved putting it together because it was like a fun puzzle. i didn't know that there were far better things ahead. we donated our artificial tree a few years back and decided to go all out with a real tree. my life was changed forever. the experience of picking out a new tree each year is so fun and you can't beat the christmas tree smell. goodness gracious. it's one of my favorite things in the world.

also, our dogs sprout reindeer antlers every christmas. it's pretty magical. little baby reindogs.

so what are your christmas tree traditions?