O, Christmas Tree!

My wonderful husband surprised his girls with a Christmas tree! We'd discussed that the weekend was just too packed to cram in time to purchase/decorate a REAL tree. So, my expectations were just that-- no tree. HOWEVER! After work, he came in the door with a box of Christmas decorations.

I said, "What are those for?"
He replied, "To decorate our tree."
"But we don't have a tree."
"Yes, we do!"
BIG SMILE (from me) and BIG HUG (for him).
"Hallie, daddy bought us a Christmas tree!! YAY!"
I was extremely excited and surprised.

Our Fraser Fir!

Putting the stand on.

Shaking the tree! Yes, I made sure to capture every step in the process!

He was probably saying, "Put down the camera for a second, and help me bring this tree in the house."

And there she is!

He even made us a fire for this cold night! This was the first fire we've had since we moved in.

We didn't decorate the tree that night. In fact, it was over a week later! Such a perfect night though. We enjoyed a bowl of potato soup for dinner and sipped on egg nog and apple cider as we decorated-- during commercials. We watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Austin's favorite. He strung the lights, while I untangled them. And Hallie watched from the couch. She fell asleep before the ornaments were on! Here's the tree!

Every year we buy a special ornament to add to our tree. This was the ornament from our first Christmas. Four years later, it's still my favorite.

After much debate, I'm glad we decided to get a "real" tree again. The wonderful pine smell makes it worth cleaning up the messy pine needles that fall everywhere!