It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

This Christmas, Tim and I are VERY excited about not traveling! This will be the first Christmas in our new house and my wonderful parents are coming up to celebrate with us :) . We made an executive decision that all Christmases will be spent at our house. Since we will have a little one from now on, and I don't have siblings to compete with, both families agreed that this was ok. Not to worry Florida and Iowa friends! We will still see you, but in the summers.
So to kick off my favorite holiday, we went to Home Depot and bought a REAL tree. No fake trees for us! Tim had the genius idea to go Thursday night in hopes that no one would be there...and he was right. It was the easiest hunt for a tree I've ever had. We were one of two families there and picked our tree out in ten minutes. It is an adorable almost six ft tree with hearty branches.After a yummy burger dinner, we headed home to decorate the tree. I immediately started blasting Christmas music, got into my pj's, and unpacked the ornaments. Lights, tinsel, and ornaments were hung with ease. Little known fact: white lights help keep your tree fresher than multi-color or solid color lights. Apparently it mimics the affects of photosynthesis and prevents the tree from browning (same process as bananas). And for this reason, it is best to keep your tree lite for as long as possible, and away from fruit baskets (they release the hormone that browns fruit and trees). I learned this from a Christmas tree expert who was on Science Friday on NPR :)So now the tree and house are decked for the holiday, and evil grocery shopping awaits. My parents arrive Christmas Eve afternoon, so I still have plenty of time to clean, cook, and do some last minute shopping :)

PS- I just ordered our Christmas cards, so they'll be a little late this year.