December Fun
Last night the family embarked on Christmas Tree Hunt ’09. We didn’t have to so much search as point and purchase – but the end result is that I still have a big ‘ole spruce (or fir?) fragrancing my house this morning.
We typically buy our trees from Lowe’s for no other reason than the price is right and they have a great selection if you go early. (By the way, did y’all know you are seriously divided on your choice of home improvement centers? A mini-riot sprung up on my Facebook page between girls loving or hating one or the other. Hysterical! My friend Shaunta has a great reason to despise Lowe’s but even though I love her much and would happily take up her cause, I just couldn’t make myself drive further to Home Depot.) There was a fresh shipment from Oregon yesterday so the one the kids picked is fabulous. There wasn’t so much drama in the tree pickin’ as there was in the fact I wanted to keep the trimmings. See, every year I have great intentions of making fresh swags and then somehow it doesn’t get done. Then Luke gets to haul off the forgotten mesh bag of greenery he finds hidden behind my huge landscape shrub sometime in the spring when he’s spreading fresh mulch. I can hear him yelling “LIS!!!” like Dave in Alvin and the Chipmunks while I hide and laugh. And laugh.
So last night when the dude asked me if i wanted the trimmings, I was all, “Yeah, of course I do! I’m going to make some fresh swags this year.’ And Luke was like, “Whatever. You are not taking that mess home?!” Guess where they are? HERE. AT MY HOUSE. Dude even helped me out by giving me a bunch of extras that were lying around. I’ve made it a personal goal to make at least one thing with them so I can WIN. Win what? I have no idea. I just hate having a reputation of a non-follow-througher even if it is well-earned.
My point today really isn’t about the tree clippings but to share How We Christmas. Over the next three weeks I’m going to ask you to share How You Christmas by telling us about your traditions in different aspects of the holidays. I’ll post a Mr. Linky to add to the fun. Here’s the schedule of how we’ll play:
HOW WE CHRISTMAS
December 3rd: Quirky Family Rituals Edition. Does your family have something you do to keep Santa “alive”? A certain thing you do every year? Example: My family goes to Cracker Barrel for breakfast on Christmas Eve Day and then to the movies. Probably the most fun, stress-less day of the season. (Disclaimer: I know many of you opt out of the Santa thing. This isn’t the forum for a debate. We are just having fun and embracing one another no matter how we’ve chosen to deal with the matter.)
December 10: Christmas Tree/Decor Edition. Do you have Fake or Real Tree? String Lights or Pre-Lit? Special Ornaments? Do you decorate like the Griswold’s or does your home remain non-descript or are you somewhere in between? {I’m guilty of non-descript except for this year. We are going to have fresh greenery swags. You just wait.} Feel free to add photos, etc. of past Christmases if your decorating is not yet complete.
December 17: Christ in Christmas Edition: This is where you share how your family celebrates the birth of Christ both in your home and church. In order of priority, this one should be first but I wanted to end with this to set the proper tone before we enter into Christmas week.
December 24: Get off the Computer Edition. It’s Christmas Eve, girls! Go enjoy your families. (You might try going to the movies.)
I hope you will play along! I love Christmas so much and I hope to learn some cool new ways to celebrate from you girls!
(Note: I’d love to offer prizes each week but as of right now the coffers are empty. Do you have an Etsy shop or special craft that you’d like to promote? Feel free to send me a note to thepreacherswife1 AT gmail DOT com. Those who donate prizes to The Preacher’s Wife site will get a free month of advertising in my Sponsors section. May not mean much but I’d love to help you grow that home business by showcasing your craft! ) UPDATE: WE HAVE TWO WEEKS OF GREAT PRIZES! JUST NEED ONE MORE….THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
Remember to check back Thursday!
I love fresh trees, but some in my family are allergic, so it’s fake for us. And I’d love to have pre-lit, but haven’t done that yet. We recently moved into a much smaller home, and our boxes and boxes of Christmas are somewhere in storage, so decorating will be a bit down-scaled this year.
Sounds like a lot of fun. I’ll try to remember to come back! But at my age, you never know! lol
.-= Cathy´s last blog ..I ♥ Faces =-.
I love this idea! It gives me a reason to blog during this insane, busy season. Plus I LOVE learning about what others do for Christmas!
.-= Alyson´s last blog ..M2M Scavenger Hunt =-.
Lisa, I forgive you THIS TIME, but next year, you and I will embark on a special trip to Home Depot for your tree.
Or take Lauren’s advice and go to Thornhill’s. :)
Love you!
.-= Shaunta´s last blog ..Second Chance =-.
Hi Lisa! What a beautiful new blog design! Love it!
PS: I’m having another giveaway with 2 more days to enter:
http://jeannewinters.blogspot.com/2009/11/black-friday-giveaway.html
and I’m going to send you an email about contributing something for your prizes!
Blessings!
Jeanne
.-= Jeanne @ Inspiring Ideas´s last blog ..Totally Custom Christmas Cards! =-.
What a great idea, will have to remember to come back on Thursday.
.-= Fiona´s last blog ..The start =-.
Hello Lisa, Like I always say I enjoy reading your blogs. And this one goes to prove why. LOL…
Usually I have a fake tree but withour move last year to Florida, my mother gave my tree away. So this year we decided that we would embarq on a new tradition. So we went to the tree farm in Rosalie but when we got there it was closing due to it was dark outside….lol…. So we were going through Fort Payne, and seen Lowe’s so we decided to stop and after like 30 min we finally ended up witha 6-7 ft Douglas tree. It is huge. I have string lights, white lights don’t really care for the multi color…… and I am more then likely going to pullout the old decorations this year and hoep to catch New decorations after the Hilodays, for next year.
Flor
The Tour O’ Tradition will be fun Lisa! Patti had a great little Getting To Know You Christmas Edition on her blog and I’ve got my post up over at Mother of Three as well.
.-= Jennifer´s last blog ..Gettin to Know You: Christmas Version =-.
Lisa,
Sharing memories and traditions is a wonderful idea. My husband and I are sort of at a loss this year as what to do on Christmas Eve. For the past 24 years we have gone to his grandmother’s house at 6:00 PM. on Christmas Eve. For my husband, it has been all of his life (all that he can remember since being a child). See Grandma passed away this past April at 96 years old. This is our first Christmas Eve without her and we really don’t know how we are going to spend it. This is all my children have known too, is to go to great grandma’s house. My children are not little anymore (ages 20 & 24) so we are all trying to come up with a “new tradition.” So maybe someone will have something exciting for us to do or start a new tradition of our own.
I’m so in. But don’t peek–got a post up already I’d love to link to the decor post.
Fun, fun, fun.
.-= Rena´s last blog ..Showers of SHHocolate =-.
Favorite smell of all time: that of a Christmas tree :)
Fun idea with the linkies!
.-= Shelly´s last blog ..In the midst of my turkey consumption =-.