Sunday, December 7, 2008

The best way to nap...

By treelight.


Jordan and I put up our tree this afternoon. It's a sad little Charlie Brown tree at only 6.5 feet, artificial, and see-through, but it doesn't bother us much. "It'll look better once the sun goes down," Jordan pointed out. And yes--it does look better in the dark (but don't we all?).

Christmas before last we were renting an old historical home with 12-foot ceilings, and I insisted on having a giant tree. I felt a small tree would be dwarfed by the house's size and architectural presence. We really couldn't afford to buy a new artificial tree tall enough, so I was overjoyed to find a 9.5 foot tall one for $15 at a yard sale months in advance. It was ginormous. It's hard to describe the girth of a tree that height. It looked like it belonged in a forest, not our house. I was pregnant and just getting over my morning sickness that December, so decorating a tree of that size seemed almost unattainable. Jordan set it up and strung the lights, and it took forever to fully decorate. We didn't even have enough ornaments to cover it, and the job wasn't finished until two or three days before Christmas. The thing was so hard to put up we just couldn't face taking it down, so... We left it up until March.

Lesson learned. It's a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree for us from now on. I can reach up and put the topper on without even standing on my toes. Decorating it takes 15 minutes flat. And you know, it's not the size of the tree that matters anyway. It's who you decorate it with.


7 comments:

Ginny Marie said...

It's a beautiful tree! I also love your Christmas babyfingers picture with the baby Jesus...so sweet!

Beth said...

You're doing better than us :-) We put our tree up last night but that's all that happened...no ornaments or decorations yet....but Elaina likes it so we might not have to do too much

And that looks like an excellent way to nap :-)

Melissa said...

I love it! We have a charlie brown tree as well. I also think the pic of Suzi on your blog with the manger is so sweet! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that your Christmas season is full of blessings. We just got home yesterday so hopefully in a fw days i will get all my post together from the trip.

Vicky said...

LOL...our tree has been in the stand since Friday night....no lights, no decorations....

Hopefully tonight we can do it!

Anonymous said...

Aww...you're right Jenny. The memories you make decorating the tree is what matters. Thanks for the beautiful picture of the beautiful tree and baby!

Emily said...

I feel so bad...we decided not to put a tree up this year. Live trees are such a pain to deal with (as much as I love them), and we're not going to be at our house in Georgia for Christmas anyway. Plus, I didn't feel up to shelling out the cash for a faux one. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I am loving looking at other people's trees- including yours!

Chat with Kathleen said...

Your tree looks beautiful and your sentiments are so true the size of the tree does not matter, it is the act of decorating it with your loved ones that make it memorable.
Suzi looks so peaceful. May you and your family have a glorious Christmas holiday