Thursday, December 25, 2008

o christmas tree

Merry Christmas! I hope this finds all of you having a joyful, fun-filled day, whether or not you're celebrating Jesus' birth. Since none of you will probably see our home in its holiday finest, I'd like to show you our tree. We're very excited about it.

First off, I'm psyched because it's real! My family has always had artificial trees (albeit very realistic-looking ones), because poor Andrew is allergic to something conifer-related and, of course, we'd rather have a healthy, happy brother/son/self than a genuine Douglas fir.

Secondly, we practically cut it down ourselves. Well, not really. We did do some market research, though. On the day after Thanksgiving, a whole bunch of Christmas tree vendors set up shop along the sidewalks, so you'll probably hit one every 10 blocks or so. In our area, there happen to be two that are across the street from each other, so we were able to price things out by walking 20 yards. Boy, did we get a deal. (I don't really know if it's a steal or not, but it was less than we counted on spending, so it's a deal, no?)

Thirdly, we made all the decorations ourselves (except the hiding hog). I wish I could say it was because we are uber-creative and had planned it all along, but we just ran out of time. Nonetheless, they are lovely and we both think it's a wonderful first Christmas tree (yep, we've never had one that was exclusively ours).

Here's how it all went down:

Last Saturday: We picked out a tree. There had been an ice storm the night before, so everything was looking particularly rustic. We were hoping to get a three-footer. Not so much.

See? The place looks like a regular Christmas tree lot only skinnier. After the nice attendant got it all trimmed, packed up, and ready to go, we threw it in the trunk of a cab and took it home. How many of you can say that's how you got your tree home this year? Yes, we are an unusual bunch.

Last night: Remember how I said we bought 4,500 cookie cutters? Well most of them were Christmas- and winter-related ones. Ian made his favorite gingerbread cookies and cut out a few dozen for our tree (and more to eat).

And then our resident pastry chef decorated every single one of them. We finally finished everything at 2:45 this morning!

Today: Here it is! Our Christmas tree. It's so cute it's hard not to hug it!

We're planning to save our best ornaments (and, of course, the hiding hog) and make some other kind of ornament for next year's tree. Any ideas?

So, though this nice, relaxed holiday has been a welcome change of pace from the insanity of our everyday lives, "we miss you" barely begins to cover the way we're feeling today. Thank you all for your greetings from afar, and especially our families for the massive amount of gifts and goodies. You're beyond generous. We are so blessed to be loved by you and are looking forward to celebrating Christ's birth together once again.

How was your day?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I miss you guys! What a wonderful blog - I should try that again... As for our Christmas, it was wonderful and VERY relaxed. It was our first away from family. We decorated with our first cut-your-own tree, garland, lights and stockings. Ryan Black and Ryan Scheu came over on the eve and spent Christmas with us watching many-a-movie. Between Christmas Story and the Muppets Christmas Carol we made our Christmas dinner (Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding (what I looked for FOREVER in London), Stuffing and Broccoli) - it was delicious! I wish we had taken pictures - maybe we'll get better at that next year, too. Now Haakon and I are moving back in to a place of our own (been living with Spinter for 18 months...) in a wonderful neighborhood, Magnolia, and we can't wait! We hope to be in by the first. Look for our new address!

Love,
Katharine

Anonymous said...

Ellie,

I have enjoyed seeing pictures of the adventures you and Ian are having in New York. Our Christmas was quite subdued as the nasty cold I was trying to avoid won the battle after the three hour drive home over Snoqualmie Pass in heavy snow. Normally it is an hour and a half drive. We don,t have a lot of space to put up a tree either. So Aunt Belinda put up our Christmas tree and most of the decorations outside our front door in the barn. You and Ian have a wonderful New Year.
Uncle Mark & Aunt Belinda