meet Chris Pine

I grew up in a household where we went to a Christmas tree farm every year and cut down our own tree. I have such good memories of walking through tree farms and picking out the perfect tree with my brother and sister. And trying to convince my dad to get the tallest one :) We did have a high ceiling though, so our trees were pretty massive! (Kudos to my dad for putting up with that.) After my dad sawed down the tree, we would strap it to the top of the car and pray that it wouldn't fall off on the drive home. Every year we reminisced about "that time" it did fall off the top and Pizza Hut delivery man helped us get it back on (true story). Then we'd set it up in our family room and bring out tons of ornaments from my childhood, lights, tinsel, and house decorations while listening to Christmas music on the radio or record player. It was such a fun time with my family, and I miss it a lot now that we're all grown up and moved out.

Now I live in a significantly smaller house and I don't have a strong man to chop down trees for me, so Laura and I go to our local Lowes to find our tree. If you go early enough in December, they have a really good selection for a house like ours-- about seven feet tall, but not scrawny by any means. I'm picky about my trees! This is the second year in a row we've gotten our tree there and we loved last year's (RIP Sir Fir). On Sunday, we brought Chris Pine home:

 

I needed my first peppermint mocha of the season for tree shopping!

The Star Wars Christmas story: Mark McGuire's abusive relationship with Barbie, who cheated on him with Han Solo, who is trying to stop Luke and Leia's weird brother-sister romantic relationship.

 

All lit up! (If it looks like it's leaning-- yeah, it is. Don't worry, we fixed it! Also, pre-tree skirt. Oops.) Despite his name, he's actually a Frasier Fir, and one of the best-smelling trees ever. Seriously, when I got out of the shower later that night, I could smell it all the way upstairs, and it's heavenly.

We decorated our house in lights this year. No idea why the angle is so weird and off in this photo, but that's life! We have lights around the baker's rack in our kitchen and in our front windows, too. And we wrapped a red, sparkly garland around our banister (you can see it in the tree photo). Our house has never been so festive-- usually we just put up the snowflakes and tree and call it a day ;) But I love it. The house feels so cozy and full of holiday spirit, especially when you light a Christmas candle to go with it! I love coming home to it.

How do you decorate your house for the holidays?