Christmas tree day!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Isaac and Christian in our bed on this lazy Saturday morning.

Christian puts this finishing powdered-sugar sprinkle on our

Overnight French Toast.

Christian was dressed and ready to leave before the rest of us were, so he played what has become his own Christmas tradition...

dart-gun attack on the Eiffel Tower

I asked him why he always attacks my Eiffel Tower each Christmas, and he said, "I don't know, I guess those lights just make it really attractive." He doesn't do this any other time of the year, but he's spent countless hours this holiday season lining up plastic soldiers on the floor and all over the tower, then launching his attack.

As we pulled up to Ward Grove Christmas Tree farm, we saw fields of Christmas trees and a mule-drawn wagon driving through the field!

It was pretty chilly but not unbearable...

just right, I guess!

Jacob loves these lumberjack shirts (he has one in red and one in green), so I couldn't pass up this outfit when I saw it for Isaac. This picture was taken in the little cabin while we were waiting for the wagon to go out to the field.

Christian boards the wagon...

and gets a seat right up front!

Enjoying the bumpy ride to the Christmas tree field:

I love this picture.

Ready to begin our hunt for the perfect tree

Found it!

There are guys walking around the field carrying saws to cut the tree down for you, but I asked if Jacob could cut ours down, and the guy said "Sure!"

He didn't wear that lumberjack shirt for nothing! :)

Riding back to the cozy cottage for hot chocolate

This picture became our Christmas card:

Home with the tree!

I love the sight of a Christmas tree strapped to the top of a vehicle!

Time to get this thing down...

There it goes!
into the house...
and into its stand!

Next come the lights...


then the 1st ornament!
Every year for Thanksgiving, Jacob's mom gives each of us an ornament.
This was Christian's ornament this year and the one he wanted to be first on the tree: an X Games ornament.


We have a lot of fun hanging our ornaments and talking about each one. We started collecting ornaments when we were dating. Whenever we'd travel, do something for the first time, or have something exciting happen, we'd get an ornament to mark it. (My mom taught us this tradition.) So, we have lots of fun memories as we pull out ornaments representing our engagement, our honeymoon, a trip to the Alamo, a cruise we went on with Jacob's office, our first Valentine's Day, a trip to Graceland, our first Christmas tree, our first home, Jacob's law school graduation, MTSU, a Memphis Grizzlies ornament for the season we had tickets when we lived in Memphis... etc, etc, etc...


One new ornament this year is a girl with a pregnant belly, and on the back, my mom wrote "Christmas Surprise 2007." This ornament marks our announcement last year on Christmas Day that we were expecting Isaac!

We wanted to tell both of our families in person and on the same day, so we decided to wait until Christmas morning. After all the other presents were opened, Christian opened his last present, which was a tshirt that said:
Promoted to the big brother
Effective July 2007

It was a big surprise and definitely ornament-worthy !!!

We have a picture like this every year!

Since we were kind of on a roll with Christmas,

Jacob put up the outside decorations too.

Jacob puts the light-up rocking horse together.

all lit up that night

One of the funniest parts of the day was this banana.

A little background on me and bananas: I often eat a banana with my coffee in the morning, especially if we're going somewhere, and I'm taking breakfast for the road. I habitually leave the banana peel in Jacob's car, and needless to say, he's not a big fan of this bad habit of mine.

When we drove to Dallas for Thanksgiving, I packed two bananas. I ate one on the way, but I still had one left when we got there. A few days into the trip (I think we were at Benji & Rebekah's), Jacob told me it was time to toss that second banana because it was stinking up the car. (Banana does not make the best car freshener.) I was getting Isaac out of the car at that time, so I put the banana on top of the Tahoe, intending to take it inside and throw it away. But... I forgot.

When Jacob was getting our Christmas tree down, he found the banana!!!

This banana travelled on top of the car from Dallas all the way back to Jackson and had been there for a week in Jackson!