Cutting The Christmas Tree: My Favorite Holiday Tradition

Cutting The Christmas Tree:

My Favorite Holiday Tradition

I have fond memories of picking out our families Christmas Tree as a child.   The day after Thanksgiving my whole family would pile into the Suburban and drive into the country to what seemed to me to be acres of perfectly pruned Christmas Trees.  I remember how my fathers face and entire body seemed to inspect every tree, demonstrating to my child mind the eminent importance of our choice.  The smell of fresh cut pine still takes me back to specific moments of childhood Christmas'.  It's a tradition that is important for me to give my children.  But in my day these farms were huge and bustling with families.  We had to wait in line to have our tree shaken and wrapped in twine.  Enter the "fake Christmas tree".  Bustling, huge, hay ride farm= Out Of Business.  We've had to drive over 2 hours to find a farm the last two years but it's been worth it.  It still makes me smile and the whimsical shape of a real Christmas Tree is something that I love...and my kids love it too.  Joey has gently tried to encourage me to buy the fake tree arguing "sustainability" and "cheaper in the long run"  But I argue back with "helping those who would otherwise be out of a job", "family tradition", and "memories".  That shut him up! The great job my parents did of almost ritualizing the tradition make it impossible for me to buy a fake tree.  But i'll admit, after a spider infestation fell from this years tree branches I've considered giving in.  Man that was nasty!  But one time in 30 years of real tree experience I would say we're doing pretty well for ourselves!  I'm stickin' to my guns!

Here's Georgie, Bitty Baby in tow, racing/hiding through the branches.  She could've cared less to help with choosing our tree.  We hardly saw her the entire time.  But we were the only ones there so, nothing to fear!

Isaac, ready to cut

I caught sight of her again.

and again.

After quite a bit of deliberating, Joey butted out and let Isaac choose;)  

(We'll regret it later!)

Baby's First Christmas Tree Shopping...

can they put that on a onesie?

Just a side note...if you have a tall tree in your yard, google search "air Pogo"  

This thing was cool!!

Happy with his choice!

There's our beauty...let's hope she doesn't fly off on our three hour trek home!

Remember when I said we'd regret Joey butting out to keep the peace??  Well we had our "National Lampoon" moment when we unleashed her in our front room!  WAY to big for our tiny living room!!  We had to lop 5 inches off the top just to get the star on and we could forget about having a fire in the fire place!  Major safety hazard.  Remind me to get a skinny >7ft tall tree next year!

Christmas tent

Trial run with Ashley's new camcorder.  This is Ashley's creation for the kids on Christmas.  Boring unless you are a grandparent.

Hi, I'm 4 months old

Hi, My Name is Juliet and I am 4 Months Old!

Juliet is becoming such a little person, no longer a newborn!  She reaches for things with her hands, burries her head down into my chest when she is hungry (she knows where the food is:), beams from ear to ear when she sees Isaac after a day away at school, fusses when we put her to bed because she wants to be "social",  spits by blowing through her lips and talks to us with coos, shrieks and giggles all day long.  It's soooooo fun!  I used to think I didn't like this age so much.  I'd said before that I wished we could jump from the newborn stage straight to 14 months.  What was I thinking!!??  Who would want to skip this?  (unless you have a colicky baby, of course;)

 Is she sweet or is it just me??!!

ooooo I just want to eat her!!  throw her in a soup!  

As a side note I said that randomly the other day and Isaac laughed his little head off.  We've taken to calling her Joop Soup now.  He squeezes her little hand, puts his face suffocatingly close to hers and say, "I wanna put you in a soup!!"

On the downside I'm finally feeling the effects of having two children vs three.  I no longer have the "I just had a baby excuse" and Juliet doesn't sleep all day anymore.  Needless to say, I'm not getting much done.  Some days I just throw my hands up and say....oh well.  The house will just have to stay messy, or that project unfinished or there will be no side dishes at dinner that night.  And somedays I just plop down and watch a movie.  Most days I can live with that.  But somedays I want control over my life again.  I've been working out early in the mornings and late at night, getting out of the house without any children and that has been crucial for me.  I hate getting all mushy or "braggy" in a public sphere where my husband is concerned but since this blog has become more and more just for our little family I feel comfortable saying how grateful I am for Joey.  Some days I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!!  Joey is so hands on and helpful with the kids.  He truly understands the plight of stay-at-home mothers.  (it's not always a plight but lets be honest....sometimes, IT IS!!)  He doesn't ask if I need a break or how I'm doing, he just walks in the door and takes the baby.  He knows me well enough to know that I hate to put people out, including him so if I say, "no, I'm fine, I can hold her" (and most of the time I really am fine) he doesn't let me "be tough".  He just takes her.  He makes time to be home with the kids so that I can get out every once in a while.  He calls before coming home from work to see if I need something from the store.  He does all the laundry and if I'm in a bad, snippy mood he lets it roll off his back (he understands bad moods;)  Overall I'm most appreciative of, in awe of and even surprised at his ability to understand me so well...without any words from me.  He respects what I do and more than that, the frustration that comes with what I don't do.  And that understanding goes miles and miles for me.  Marriage is no cake walk, it can be so hard sometimes!!  But just like everything that has its opposite, it can be so blissfully fulfilling as well.  It really does seem to get better, richer, and deeper with its age.  Was that mushy enough;)  That's  for you Isaac, Georgie and Juliet to read one day when we're dead and gone..."Dad really was so good to Mom!!"...he deserves that credit!  I love you Joey!!  oh!?!, was this supposed to be all about Juliet?:)  Well, I guess where one is concerned all of us are!!  I love YOU Juliet!

xoxo

Our Thanksgiving

It all started on Tuesday with Isaacs class "Fall Party"

Isaac and I were in charge of the decorations.  I let him pick out what he wanted to make.  He settled on corn husk centerpieces made out of liter soda bottles and tissue paper as well as Indian headbands.  He helped me make them all.  

Here he is with his teacher, Ms McLeod.  We both LOVE her! 

And here's what we call the Elm Street posse;)  

These three cute kiddos all live on Elm Street, Slade directly across the street from us and Devin about 5 houses down.  They play together a lot!  It's soooo fun to have neighbors with kids living so close!

On Wednesday night we headed for Houston.  We were all excited.
Zach, Jill and ALy were all going to be there!  

Sweet Greetings awaited us!!

 Hello, Juliet!!

Hello, Gaga!

Can you believe we went swimming on Thanksgiving Day?

The weather was 90' all day and then a northerly blew in a little before nightfall.
Just in time for the HOT TUB!!

Liam, Isaac and Joey's shoulder;)

Jill and Arie Lou
with whom I fell completely in love.  She got to sleep over at our house one night and she is the cutest, funniest little thing!!

Isn't he HUGE!!

The Nina's!!!  

Mom, Jill, Juliet and the original, Nina Grandma!

We quickly switched gears from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  Here Isaac is excited to receive 

Toy Story 3!  His biggest gift was the Star Wars AT AT found at Costco.  It is awesomely HUGE!

Georgie is in love with her Bitty Baby!  

Thanks Gaga and Papa!!

And I'm in love with my 3 amazing mirrors!  And my tiny little, gold, wear-everyday peace sign necklace!  You gotta love gifts from parents....they buy us things that we could never buy for ourselves!!

Thanks Mom!  And for Joey it was the Beatles T-shirt you see him wearing below.  

So Joey and so cool.

 Goofin' off at Lupe's Tortillas.

Most of the gang!

The kids helped Gaga put up her Christmas villages.  They really enjoyed it.  It made me slightly regret selling mine.  I hope my Mom doesn't read this!  She'll say, "I told you so!"

Merry Christmas everyone!  More where that came from later!

xoxo

A Typical Saturday

On A typical Saturday at our house, you would find:

 Georgie dressed in some kind of princess garb, traipsing around the back yard.  She will have tights on no matter the weather and no jacket, no matter the weather.

 Isaac will be dressed and ready for the day within minutes of waking up and his imagination will be reeling.  He'll have talked Georgie into some sort of Star Wars, magical or futuristic scenario and the backyard becomes their fantasy world.  Here above, Isaac is sitting on their "time machine" that whisked them back to the paleolithic age.  

Both houses on either side of us are vacant so we currently have three back yards partitioned by a chain link fence.  On one side the gates are locked so the kids are constantly climbing the fence via a dog house and playing over there.  

Joey and I will likely be doing some sort of work on the house, him on the outside, me usually on the inside.  On this particular Saturday we were both scraping all the old paint on the trim around the house. It was brutal...I ditched him at the end of the day.  There's tons more to do but...it's his baby now;)

Don't forget the cloth diapers that are always strewn across any semi-clean surface in the backyard sun!!

I wish I had a shot of Juliet drooling all over herself in the Bumbo, whining for someone to give her a bit of attention.   Poor thing;)    

Fall Visitors

Mimi and Tricky Pop

 visited us a few weeks ago.  We really enjoyed having them.

Pop pop claimed the purpose of his visit was to finish putting up the siding on the 

back of our house:

But we think that was secondary to his wanting to see the kids;)

They sure enjoyed seeing him.  

Pop pop worked his little tushy off on our house.  And Joey worked with him everyday that he was home from work.  He really enjoyed spending quality time with his Dad.  And they got soooo much done!  It is soooo nice (crucial, actually) having a handy man in the family.

Thanks Kerry...you have no idea how helpful it is having you around!! All of us really loved being with you, but especially Joey.

As always, we loved being with Mimi!!

I consider the entire trip a success because Mimi watched a movie...she wasn't exercising while she watched, she didn't have notes to write in front of her, she just watched a movie...WOW!  Even if the movie was just Cinderella, something she's probably seen a dozen times, I felt like a source for good just watching her relax.   Way to go, Rosie!  We LOVE you!!  Mimi is always educating my children, teaching them some moral or social skill in almost every interaction.  She talks letters, science and numbers too.  She is a born teacher.

Our little family is just fine out here in Oklahoma, away from family,  turning friends into cousins, aunts and uncles with every Sunday dinner and holiday.  But every time the grandparents visit or we leave Houston or Las Vegas I realize how good it could be.  We wish we lived closer.  One of these days....

xoxo

Our Halloween

Happy, Happy, Happy 

Halloween!!

Cleopatra

 Darth Vader

 Joey and I's half attempt at a costume...Luke Skywalker and Cleopatras Mummy:)
Juliet was going to be a mummy as well but I didn't realize how much medical tape I would need to cover my HUGE body;)  I didn't even have enough for my own costume.  So, in Merback baby fashion, Juliet was a chili pepper just as Isaac and Georgie had been.

Our favorite halloween tradition is Top Secret!  So I can't tell you about it.  But I will allow you in on the pictures;)  And I can tell you that it's the coolest tradition ever!!

Looking tough:

We attended a pretty lame corn maize this year as well.  We had a good time just doing something different and getting out of Altus...but the maize was lame.

We 

I almost forgot...the tractor ride was really cool.

We found a 50's diner on the way home.  Here are the kids eating Ice Cream.

Happy Fall Ya'll!  Don't let the stores trick you...It's not Christmas yet!