Our 2014 Christmas Tree

We set out on a mission one week and a day ago to chop down our 2014 Christmas tree. 

It wasn't like "Christmas Vacation" and that's probably a good thing. 

But it was very cold...brrrr. 

We were excited to get 'er done a little earlier than normal. But once we found just the right one, we set it up, got lights on it and then waited another week to put the ornaments on! 

It's been a week. 

But we're happy to say it's up and ready to go! 

Someone wasn't thrilled with how cold it was and couldn't wait to get back to the car to get snuggled in blankies. 

The night we set the tree up, I made us popcorn and homemade hot chocolate! 

A few nights later, the four legged toddler desired more snuggles. 

I usually enjoy beagle snuggles, but sometimes...

Well let's just say the beagle doesn't totally understand personal space. 

This week, Addy and I began making some homemade Christmas gifts! 

Here she is in an old shirt of mine, all ready to paint and create! 

We began making this cute Gingerbread man at our buddy Owen's house. 

He is super cute and is resting in our living room window, by the tree!  

Then we started to put the ornaments on...

Until we realized that a strip of our lights had decided to die on us. 

So, with just a few ornaments on the tree, we decided to pull off the dead lights and wait another night to finish the ornaments! 

So much for being ahead this year???? 

But what's this????

The next night, our tree was allllll done!!!! 

Thanks to the self timer on our little camera and my husbands knowledge of the techy world, 

we were able to snap a family photo by the tree...

our first family photo is quite a while!! 

My favorite part of decorating the tree is reliving the memories that each ornament holds. 

It's fun having some from our childhoods, our couple years of marriage and some from Addy these past few years. A Christmas tree hold's so many special times shared together and with our friends and families. Ornaments really are little keepsakes. I write on the boxes of the ornaments themselves the date we got them and maybe a little bit about why. 

Merry Christmas!