O Christmas tree!

We finally got our Christmas tree!!! It is kind of a funny story too. Mark and I had a conversation a week or two back about how fake trees cause less sinus and allergy problems. Well apparently Mark thought that the conversation meant we agreed on buying a fake tree???? I love real trees but I was very happy nonetheless when he came home with a fake tree on Saturday. It really is much less work and looks beautiful. He got it for a really good deal too, just $75 dollars. So we put it up yesterday and today we decorated it. We all stayed home from church so we could try and get over this virus since we over did it this weekend. That's why we are in jammies and have bed head still in the pictures!! We told Rex that if he took a nap, we would decorate the tree. I love bribery, works like a charm! It was so fun to see Rex into it this year, he was too young in all the other years. He LOVED putting the balls on the tree, he tended to just put them in one spot though so there were about 7 balls in one area! I am all about a "family" tree. Maybe one day we will have a "pretty" tree and a "family" tree but while my kids are young and we aren't rich, it's just the "family" tree. We started a tradition that the kids get to get an ornament each year that represents something they love. Sammy is a little young for it, so we will start it next year for him. We started it last year with Rex and he got a Mr. Potato Head ornament. This year he picked out a Go Diego Go ornament. We also have the ornament that Mark put my ring in when he proposed to me on Christmas Eve of 2002 in front of his ENTIRE family! And we have an ornament that was given to us for our first Christmas married that says, "First Christmas Together". I love our tree and the memories that the ornaments hold. It'll be so fun when my kids are teenagers to look back at all the ornaments they picked out and remember that year of their lives. Even our balls have significance because I bought them after the Christmas I got engaged on clearance at Target so that Mark and I would have ornaments the next year. Isn't that what family is all about traditions and memories, especially at this time of year. I am so grateful to be starting traditions with my own family and at the same time remembering the ones I shared with my parents and brother.