Holiday Crunch Time!!

Seven days until Christmas and I am just now picking my cards up today. And absolutely RUSHING to mail them out. Otherwise they become happy new years cards! I also have not started shopping for Tenley at all. She has two little things in her stocking and that's it. But I did get all the nieces and nephews taken care of so that's something right??  And my tree is up. So go me!
So I will be one of those people contributing to the mad rush of shopping a week before Christmas. I thought this year would be different. But maybe I can try again next year. Be a little better prepared.
But probably not. I am a born procrastinator. Although the second Tenley was born I became a little anal retentive and a big planner. But only when it comes to places we have to be. I start planning who's houses we are going to for holidays a month in advance. And you know what? I'm never stressed out the day before. I get all the politics and hurt feelings out of the way in advance! Because holidays are supposed to be fun. Not stressful. And even though I haven't gotten my shopping done, I'm not the least bit stressed. And I count that as a WIN!!

The most perfect, imperfect Christmas tree..

I am a little obsessed with our Christmas tree.

It's bare in some parts and full in others, and it pricks the absolute piss out of me every time I touch it. But I love it.
What do I love about it? It's rustic and simple, and it's ours. It's not only our first tree as a family, but it's the first tree Rob and I have ever had as adults. The last tree either of us had ever had before now was when we lived at home. So that makes it extra special. We're starting family traditions and that is a wonderful thing. Honestly it makes me tear up as I type this.
Saturday morning we loaded up in the truck all bundled up for our big journey into the woods to find the perfect tree. Princess T was jumping up and down with excitement and yelling "Yea!" at her Daddy as he opened the gate to our property. We had barely gotten out of the truck when we spotted a pretty great tree. And upon looking at the rambunctious 17 month old we decided it was probably not in our best interest to go trekking off in the woods. I don't think we would have gotten very far.
So he got to work and started sawing the tree down. T cheered him on as I watched and asked a million questions. This was new for me, we'd always had fake trees. So I was pretty curious about what was going on. He got it down in 2 minutes. Literally. I was shocked. We loaded it up and took pictures to commemorate the occasion.
We headed out to home depot in search of the perfect ornaments. I tried not to go too crazy, because if you buy your stuff all at once rather than build it up over time I would imagine it can get really expensive.
Princess T picked out our new Santa tree skirt, and Rob did the manly job of picking out a tree stand.
We got it up and mostly decorated while T napped, and saved some for her to do when she woke up.
She loves her tree and likes to Ooo and Ahh at it. But for the most part she doesn't mess with it. Unless she's feeling extra mischievous. Then she'll walk over to it and reach for it all the while looking over her shoulder to make sure I am seeing her.

This tree will probably always remain the favorite, and always on my heart, because it's the beginning. It may be a little rough around the edges, it may not be the perfect Southern Living Christmas tree, but it is perfect and wonderful in it's imperfection. Just like us.

Getting in the holiday spirit!

I'm trying to make my house more festive without breaking the bank. So being a huge crafter I have oodles of scraps at my disposal. So I did a little crafting today. I love the results! I took old planters that I'd long since killed the plants inside, and made a B with hot glue, and then spray painted them black. I threw a scrap bow together, cut some limbs from the christmas tree on our property and VOILA!

I don't know what kind of tree it is. I know it's some kind of "Christmas" tree. But oh my, those tree branches were not kind to my fingers! Apparently they have stickers. But it's totally worth it because my house smells like heaven!! If heaven were in a pine tree.

Hopefully when The Man gets home he won't be upset that I "pruned" our tree a little bit. And also he won't notice that I first attempted to cut the branches with something that I think is used to work on cars.