photo log: Christmas Tree 2009

Last year we did not get to break out the Christmas decorations that were of huge concern to me as we house hunted last December. A concern as in "Where are we going to put them since none of these homes come with basements?" The answer has been our huge heated garage that only holds one car (mine) 6 months of the year when it is too cold to ride bikes and they can be hung from the ceiling. Never mind that it is a 3 car garage. But that is another post.

So when our house ended up boasting a 2 story living room with a bay window perfect for a Christmas Tree, I was most excited. The Christmas Tree is my thing. Our ornaments are from every place we have ever vacationed starting with our honeymoon in Jackson Hole. I love to scour the shops of every place we have been in search for the perfect ornament.

We have a space needle, a statue of liberty, a San Diego fishing boat, a Confederate Soldier from Franklin, TN, moose on white water rafts, and even one from Germany when JaDee was there for work a million years ago.

And then there are the kids ornaments. Of course the baby ornaments but also ballerina slippers this year for Olivia, a cowboy boot for Ethan several years ago when that was all he would wear, and the salt dough ornaments made by Carter in Kindergarten.

I spend hours wrapping each branch with lights and hang my strings of red beads just so before the ornaments touch a branch.

This year we chopped one down and it was FREE! Wahoo! And the wild trees here are exactly the kind I like and which I have been known to spend way too much on in UT.

And so enjoy these pictures of our trees journey, where 5 days ago it was growing in a field on the Fort Richardson Army base, until we came a long with our axe and strapped it to our car. I like to think that it is glad it got to be our tree this year. That it is honored to hold our stories on its branches for a few weeks.