tree day

Yesterday was our Tree Day. And like most families it's an exciting day long anticipated by the kids of the house especially. For bringing in a Christmas tree somehow makes it feel like Christmas for real. This year, though, Walter had been feeling sick the night before and that morning but he rallied himself long enough to get up off the couch so we could drive out to the tree farm. Home again to be able to hang the decorations, yet only after a long nap while his brothers rolled the spice cookies in sugar and baked them up for Tree Day Treats. So it wasn't quite the same with one very quiet, very lethargic boy off in the corner, poor guy.

We returned to our familiar Christmas Tree Farm, third year in a row, and settled on a tall but knobby looking Norway Spruce. Still, what does it matter? ... for once the lights and decorations are on it always looks wonderful and magical. Once the lights were on I put aside a few delicate ornaments and then the boys were welcome to hang the rest as they pleased, resulting in a few heavy laden branches in some spots! Every year there are more and more homemade treats from school so they loved pulling those out and talking about making them in Kindergarten, or being given this one by our next door neighbour, Mrs Kennedy, or identifying themselves in my special baby picture ornaments I had made from around their first Christmas.

And once the tree was up and glowing in the corner I think we all felt it was Christmas for real now. Wonderful and magical.