Oh, Christmas tree.

Last year was the first year I got a real Christmas tree for my apartment. I always spend the holiday with my family, so the idea of a Christmas tree all by it’s lonesome in my place on Christmas day always seemed sad. But I was tired of not feeling the holiday cheer in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas, so I took the leap and got one last year and it was so nice to have! It reminded me of the holiday and was so much fun to decorate and just to look at.

I was sure I'd get a tree this year and was hoping I could get one from the family farm. My parents have a good amount of land and about 12 years ago decided to plant a little patch of Christmas trees so we could just cut our own tree down every year and carry it up to the house. So, this year, I decided to check out our own tree stash before I went out and bought one.

My cousin Michelle took this cool photo. The trees are to the right of the house.

 
I found one that was perfectly imperfect! About 6' tall, very skinny, and a little vintage looking. It even had real pinecones still attached! I wish I had taken photos of it “in the wild”, but it was getting dark really fast and my dad just happened to be driving by in the tractor (no kidding!) with the hand saw with him. After he re-lived last year’s tree cutting incident where I “cut it in the wrong place!” I kindly requested that he cut it down himself. It only took a good 5 seconds of sawing before it was down and I was carrying it up to the house. I trimmed a few of the lower branches and some of the dead stuff and put it in a bucket of water overnight. The next day I gave it a little spray-down to get most of the spiders off.   

After it dried, I wrapped it in a few plastic garbage bags and ever-so-carefully jammed it into the MINI! I had to move the passenger seat all the way forward and maneuver around it for the stick shift and ebrake, but it fit! Shoulda taken pictures of that, too!

So here's the tree all decorated. It came out really cute! I think it looks a little Seuss-ish. The size is actually perfect because I don't have that many ornaments. I did find a place for all of my favorites, though.

And apparently this is what happens when you live with a boy:

I've got hockey players on my Christmas tree.