Holiday Cheer

A little less than a month ago I wrote about preparing for holiday shopping.  Now December is here and the holiday season is in full swing.  Nearly all of the gifts we intend to give have been wrapped and the holiday cards are written - just waiting for a trip to a photo print center so I can pop some pictures in them.

Today we celebrate one of my favorite holiday traditions:  getting our Christmas tree.  When I was younger we'd wander through the woods at a rural tree farm until we found the perfect one.  Now we venture about 20 minutes from home to a fresh-cut tree lot.  Luckily it's not a depressing parking lot tree lot - it's on a farm.  The trees are beautiful Douglas and balsam firs.  The thought of that first whiff of pine has me excited already!

Before we leave we'll pull the boxes of decorations from the basement, along with the tree stand.  I'm also hoping to put up our outdoor lights before we leave.  That tradition is typically conducted on the weekend after Thanksgiving, but I was away this year.

I can't wait to open the boxes of ornaments and Christmas decor.  Each one has a memory associated with it:  the antique tin birds my great grandmother gave me from her own tree, the huge Santa Clause from my grandmother, the beagle and horse ornament collections, and more.

Of course, despite being finished with my shopping, I'm going out for a little more tomorrow.  Target has a coupon for a $15 gift card if you spend $150 (I got their $10 gift card for spending $100 on black Friday).  My mom needs a few gifts and I need to buy her a pair of slippers as well as some grocery items so together we can probably hit it.  I also discovered this pretty cool Android app:  Google Shopper.  Scan a product bar code and it'll tell you prices for the product at various stores as well as other information.

Happy Holidays!