We had an amazing weekend filled with family and food… both of which I’m very THANKFUL for! I ate excessively, and will be paying the price for some time. This winter, when I feel cold… instead of taking a hot shower, I vow to instead work out on the Wii Fit. These last 25 have GOT to go. And the timing of holiday food is less than convenient.
We put up our artificial tree over the weekend. I prefer real Christmas tree’s and the tradition surrounding it. I love going out in the cold and choosing a tree with character, chopping down, and dragging it home. But Nick doesn’t share this same fond Christmas tradition. When we were first married, he made his argument:… “let’s use our fake tree until we have children and they’re able to appreciate the tradition of it all.” I said FINE… but then it turned out I was infertile. Let me just say the infertility is inconvenient on many levels.
Anywho, our ‘family’ was delayed by a few years… and now that we have our sweet babes, I thought finally we could get a real tree!!!!
NOT SO.
Nick argues that the girls are too young to enjoy the holiday spirit and traditions, so we should wait until next year to get a real tree. Seriously? I composed a document using his words, had him sign it, …and notarized it. We better not be having this conflict AGAIN next year. Amen.
So the tree is up, lights and garland on! But we haven’t gotten to the ornaments yet, so I just snapped this super artsy macro photo of the Christmas lights.
The girls watched and giggled as we listened to Christmas music and put the tree together. They loved the glittery lights! And I love Christmas music… SOOOO much. And did anyone see Michael Buble on the Today Show this morning? He was promoting his new Christmas CD:
…which I love love love. His style is a modern version of my BFF Bing Crosby. So classic and festive!! I like to think of myself as a Christmas music connoisseur, and I can’t wait to add his album to my collection! Here’s some samplings of the songs on his CD. You can click on different songs… White Christmas is my fave.
Do you have a favorite Christmas CD that I should probably have in my collection? And/or, do you and your spouse have a recurring argument each year around this time? Special.
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I’m kind of a weirdo, I guess… I first heard this album on the radio while driving to central Texas for the one and only time we cut a real tree for Christmas. I was with my mother, still living at home. Not sure. The only conifer trees of much stature here are cedars and junipers, which don’t make for the best ornaments and sadly gave me allergic welts (which did disappear overnight), but I do treasure the memory. And I love and play this cd every year, it gives me goosebumps.
http://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Christmas-Joel-Cohen/dp/B000005IVR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373134963&sr=8-1&keywords=a+medieval+christmas+cd
You won’t have heard these melodies before.
My family used the same artificial tree for over 25 yrs, so I was beyond excited when my husb wanted to get a real tree for our first Christmas! Five lovely years of the lovely Christmas pine scent in my own home – and it wasn’t from a candle! And extra excited when our oldest was born and have our first “real tree” family Christmas – when I noticed spots on the ceiling above the tree the morning after we set it up. It was infested with spiders!!!!! Needless to say, we’ve been using an artificial tree for these last four years. I’m still so scarred I can’t even think of getting a real one again. Sad! Love your site, keep up the craftiness!
When I met dear husband he had a hideous fake tree, about 3 ft tall, that he put away each year with all the ugly ornaments still on!! I was so against that ugly tree, but we discovered, when we had our first child, that if we put that little tree up on the window bench, baby could enjoy looking, but not touching! So the ugly tree stayed–minus the ancient meaningless ornaments–until the kids were old enough to keep hands off the tree. THEN we got a real tree….and I hated it! I’m not a super fuss budget, but I really really REALLY hate pine needles all over the place, apparently…so we now have a lovely artificial tree–yes it really is lovely, even though it’s fake!:P
Love any Christmas CD with Elvis singing:)
Beth, I don’t have a spouse so I don’t have to argue. It’s a REAL tree every year that reaches the ceiling! And I love Wynona & Kenny Roger’s “Mary Did You Know” Christmas song.
Alexus
thanks for all the music recommendations! the girls and i are checking them all out on Spotify… loving it!
Josh Groban’s Christmas cd is amazing!! Hubs and I always argue about gifts. He (try not to die of shock) hates Christmas and gifts. So we fight about that and the general Christmas spirit every year. Cheers!
We were just discussing Christmas ablums at work today– I LOVE all the Glee Christmas tracks, can’t go wrong with Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Charlie Brown! 🙂
I grew up in california and as a child I LOVED getting a real tree, I thought the smell was amazing and it was magical so much better then the fake tree my aunt always put up…I now live outside eugene,Or and we are surrounded by christmas tree farms, as I type this I can hear the helicopters bringing down the bundles of trees off the hill side to wrap and pack them then ship them off. We get our tree free every year just because there are so many in the area, Wait to do the real tree, wait till they know not to touch/play with the tree. they dont know the difference yet and its hard to enjoy it when you are trying to tell your baby/toddler not to eat the needles or how they make the tree ugly by pulling on the branches and striping them of the needles…I was so stoked my 1st christmas as a mom and I wanted to do the christmas I had always dreamed I would give my children, and I really gave it a go lol by my 2nd christmas I thought oh hell I dont even remember a christmas till I was 4-5 so thats the age my daughter will be when I start doing the traditions ect.
I love Christmas music, and listen to it all year round!
Two of my favorites are “Christmas with the Rat Pack” featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. So great.
I also like “Santa’s Greatest Hits” which has several classics by the “original” artists. “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” sung by Judy Garland, etc.
Those are my recommendations! I listen to them all year and still don’t get sick of them.
I could write a book… : ) We own a Christmas Tree farm… for the sole purpose of deer hunting, we do not farm it. Deer sleep in the pines, drink from the large pond & eat the corn that we plant in the middle..so they can grow large & have no need to leave.. : ) We take one tree from it each year for us. BUT this year they were too busy hunting to help me cut one down…next week they head to Iowa to Pheasant hunt, so it will be just before Christmas that I can get the tree… I may just go buy one : )
No arguments… it is just useless… my silence to them on this topic tells them I am not happy… : )