Tradition

When I think about the word tradition I think of my parents singing along to Fiddler on the Roof. I also think of the traditions growing up: Opening one present on Christmas Eve. Opening one present at a time to make the present unwrapping last as long as possible. Always eating certain foods on holidays. Making bon bons. My brother forcing all of us to participate in decorating.

As I have grown into adulthood, I have begun to establish my own traditions with Daniel. For most of the seven years that Daniel and I have been married, we have been collecting ornaments for our tree whenever we travel. I love unpacking our ornaments as we decorate our tree and reminiscing about the places we have been together. I normally string popcorn and cranberries to add to our little (fake) tree. Whenever Daniel and I set up our tree, we always making home made hot chocolate and listen to Christmas music. I generally start listening to Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving (except when Daniel is around and puts his foot down because he is tired of listening to it).

This year I decided we needed to have two trees. So we put up our little fake tree in the basement with all of our special ornaments. And then while my brother visited, we went and picked up a 9-ft tree from Lowes. We got it for half price since it is so close to Christmas.

Unfortunately we couldn't find a tree stand ANYWHERE in the city of Charlotte so we were unable to set the tree up before my brother left. In lieu of decorating the tree, Mark helped me string popcorn and we baked gingerbread cookies and drank egg nog while listening to Christmas music.

Mark left this morning and Daniel built a tree stand out of wood. Not the prettiest thing, but it is STURDY and I just wrapped a blanket around the base. For this real tree, I wanted it to be completely natural. Danie's dad is in town and helped us to decorate. We hung white lights and then my strings of popcorn and the gingerbread ornaments.

The smell of Frasier fir, ginger bread and popcorn is amazing. I love having two trees. I love that I can sit in my living room with music playing and have my big tree. OR I can go downstairs in the basement to watch TV and have the soft glow of my little tree. It is the best of both worlds. I hope to continue having two trees in the future. I really like having a real tree.

Sophie has been cool with the tree. We are waiting to see if she tries to eat any of the popcorn or cookies off of the tree.