Planted Trees

I may have mentioned before that we have a lot of work in front of us in the form of landscaping. We currently don't have anything. In an effort to feel like we are doing something to remedy that, as we wait for spring to come, we purchased 4 small live Christmas trees. Mike and the girls planted them a few days ago.

In order to keep track of their growth I had Mike take a picture of Faith standing near one. I imagine that in about 10 years it may be tall enough to cut and decorate. Jake will be 24, Haley 20, and Faith 14. It seems so far off, but I know better.

Don't you just love the skirt, pants and mud boots?

We need to change this next year!

Not sure how the ritual started or when, but the day after Christmas has always been the day we take down our tree, and yesterday held true to form. Our tree is down and put away, and when you get on the roll of cleaning up, any sign of Christmas has been picked up and put away until next year. Other than having new toys to play with you would never know that Christmas was just 2 days ago at our house.

Don't get me wrong my A-type personality really loves having things back in order, but it feels a little sad too. At dinner last night Haley made the comment, "It feels like Christmas was a long time ago." This morning I'm feeling the same way.

This may need to be one routine we change for next year. Will someone remind me of this then, please?

Our First Christmas in Virginia

In the pouring rain yesterday, we ventured out to get our Christmas tree. Cutting our own tree has been a tradition since before we had kids. This is a project Mike has always taken very seriously. My dear husband is very easy going and not an A type personality like myself. Until it comes to picking out a Christmas tree. In fact I could tell you a story about one year he had me hiking all over a certain tree farm with over 10,000 trees and none of them were good enough. After an hour of this I threatened to leave him there. I can't recall if we ever got a tree that day.

Anyway, one thing that really surprised us was how hard it was to find a tree farm to cut our own tree here in Virginia. We did prevail and found a very kind man who isn't usually available during the week, but was willing to meet us to get our tree. It certainly isn't as big as we usually get, but it will serve us well I'm sure.
This morning the girls were chomping at the bit to get the decorating started. They've gotten their dad to put the lights on and are now working on getting their brother out of bed to join their fun. Our first Christmas in Virginia, is going well!