All About Trees

Have I mentioned that I love Christmas? I mean, who doesn't? But I LOVE Christmas! Maybe it's because it's also my birthday season! But I just love decorating and getting ready for the season!!

After we returned from our Thanksgiving travels, I was so excited that it was time to put up my Christmas tree. I grew up with the wonderful tradition of the family going to a Christmas tree farm to cut down our own tree. But living by myself and more importantly, in a metropolitan area, that means that tradition is not realistic. Even having a real tree became a not-so-practical thing when a few years ago, I came back from visiting my family and came home to a stick in a tree stand with ornaments and millions of needles on the ground. I was still cleaning up needles in August.

So I have an artificial tree and it's great! I live in an end-unit on a fairly busy road so I enjoy putting up my tree so those passing by can see it and somehow get into the Christmas mood! This year, I thought it would be a great idea for Brian and I to put the tree up together. He was a super-duper help putting up the tree although the Eagles game was on and that distracted us somewhat! But it was fun to share with him the stories behind my ornaments. I got to tell various stories about trips and friends and I realized that my tree and ornaments are much more sentimental to me than even I realized!

I even have two ornaments from my K/2nd grade teacher, Ms. Kingery! I took a picture and put it on Facebook and shared with her that it was still in mint condition more than 25 years later!!

Then this week, I took some more vacation time because I was playing the oboe in my church's Living Christmas Tree all week. It's a fun production, especially the oboe player! :) The rest of the orchestra is mostly comprised of professional musicians so it's really fun to play along with them. Even if it means being a complete oboe nerd for several days. But in all honesty, it's not all about me! :) It's a great ministry of my church that hopefully gets people in the Christmas mood and ready to celebrate the birth of our Savior! If you've never seen it, you totally should!