(Our first picture together taken not long after the story I'm about to tell)So, OK... I'm a little sentimental... so kill me. What in the world am I talking about, you ask? Well, way, way back, a long time ago... after many months chasing me around, showing up everywhere I went, trying to flirt with me (yes, a wee bit of an exaggeration but not too far off the mark!), my future husband finally talked me into going out with him on the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was a great first date -- I even started to think, "Hey, maybe that guy whose been after me all these months ain't so bad after all." (In his defense, it really had nothing to do with Jonathan... I was just at that place in my life where I thought ALL guys were trouble and I just didn't want to be with any of them -- a hiatus of sorts) ... ANYWAY, when he left he said I'll call you in the morning, and I thought... "Yeah, right, that's what every guy under the sun says."
And then the phone rang... He was asking me out that night to go pick out his Christmas tree and decorate it with him. And so we did. And so we have.... every year for 14 years we have gone to get our Christmas tree on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I hope we always will. I loved every minute of hearing the stories behind all of his ornaments from his childhood -- yes, his mother kept them all!!!
Maybe it has something to do with never really having that "family" I always wanted growing up, I don't know. But it's so important to me to keep that tradition and all the others that have followed since we've had children. The gingerbread houses, making ornaments, playing Christmas music, reading stories about the 1st Christmas, making gingerbread men cookies & all the other sweets, and even riding around with hot chocolate and finding every redneck display of Christmas lights we can find in a 10 mile vicinity! I love it all -- I hope the kids always remember those things... I hope it always makes them love and look forward to this time of year.
So things have changed a little over the years.... we no longer pick the trees out by ourselves... we now have three more of us in tow, giving their opinions, arguing over which is the best tree, and asking for us to buy every gaudy Christmas display in the store!!! So it's a little more complicated these days, but a tradition nonetheless, that I love and cherish.
Oh, please, mom! Just this one little toy! I REALLY want it!
Jonathan loading up our 15th Christmas tree
And I couldn't help but post this little picture, too. Yes, that's my Macy getting into the Christmas spirit. One day she'll be really mad at me for posting pictures like this!Merry Christmas everyone, and I hope you all enjoy celebrating your own traditions this wonderful blessed season!
