Last Saturday we went to my parent's farm to cut down our tree.  We had a beautiful day.  We picked out our tree, cut it down, drank a cup of soy double hot chocolate and drove back home.  It was kind of a lot of driving to go get a tree, but it was definitely more fun than driving down to the lot at the hardware store to pick one out.


We put the tree up on Sunday and last night the kids and I decorated it.  I think Martin had about 15 minutes of timeouts during 20 minutes it took us to decorate the tree.  After some stern discussion about not using Christmas lights as a whip, we were done.  And it was lovely.


This morning I noticed that an ornament had fallen off the tree during the night.  I placed it carefully on a branch...and the whole thing fell down.  Crashing on top of the piano.  Knocking off half of the ornaments.  Shattering the Murano glass ball that Marty and I got in Venice on our honeymoon.  I couldn't get the tree to stay put on my own and had to call Marty and tell him to come home and help me.  He got it back in the stand and pushed it so that it is leaning into the living room corner.  I'm afraid to put the fallen ornaments back on the tree, so we may end up with a barely covered leaner this year.

I talked to my mom today and their tree did the same thing.  My dad solved their problem by nailing the tree directly into the floor and strapping it to the walls with wire and screws.  This may sound extreme, but he ends up doing the same thing every year.  He's pretty much the MacGyver of the tree stand.

I asked Martin to take a few pictures around the house that would show what Christmas looks like at our house.  Here is the premium collection (only 5 of the 129 he took in about 20 minutes):

Just Santa by Martin Nelson


Fireplace and Socks by Martin Nelson


Queen Elf by Martin Nelson (I don't follow this title, but he's an artist so we have to work with him)


That's My Face by Martin Nelson


That's My Food or Hey, Did Daddy Put That Ice Cream In There? by Martin Nelson