'Tis The Season

Last weekend while my parents were still here visiting, we went out and got our Christmas tree!  When we lived in our apartment we weren't allowed to have a real tree, so ever since we've moved into our house I've insisted on a real tree- that's what we always had when I was growing up.

Baby C and my dad

Like I've mentioned previously, I love the location of our house because we're just a short drive from downtown Grand Rapids, but if we drive in a different direction there is a tree farm and a pumpkin patch (as well as several other farms) less than 10 miles away.  We got our tree this year from the same place we went last year- Luurtsema Tree Farm.  Last year we just picked a pre-cut one, but this year I really wanted to cut one ourselves!  And, speaking from last year's experience, we needed to get a much more prickly tree.  I don't know what kind of tree we got last year, but I thought it was great initially because it wasn't prickly and it smelled good.  It also turned out to be very interesting to Colby, who repeatedly tore branches off of it and dragged them around the house.  So this year, we opted for a blue spruce- very prickly.

Me and Baby C- I made that orange hat!

Hubby G assessing the tree and how to cut it down.  Baby C and I observed.  Also note that I am wearing a cute outfit, but sadly you can't really see much of it.

Before we chopped the tree down, we got a family photo.  I'm glad we got the photo, but I'm totally bummed about it because this picture is not doing me ANY favors and makes me look several pounds heavier.  And as I mentioned yesterday, I actually fit into every.single.pair of my pre-pregnancy pants, so the fact that this photo doesn't do me any justice just irks me!  Basically the only reason I'm sharing it here with all of you is because Hubby G and Baby C are cuties.

Hubby G hauling the tree into the Envoy on his own.  None of us wanted to get poked by that prickly tree, so we left it up to him....very convenient for all of us.

Once the tree was bagged and paid for, Hubby G and my dad headed home in the Envoy and my mom and I took advantage of the face-in-hole cutouts with Baby C before we headed home as well.

Our tree has since been lit with red, green, and white lights and decorated as well.  Happy Holidays!!