o christmas tree, much pleasure doth thou bring me!

Every year since we got married David and I talk about getting an artificial pre-lit Christmas tree. It just seems so practical. So, we go to Home Depot and look online and look at various trees. We look at the perfectly symmetrical branches and the evenly spaced lights. We discuss the initial investment but how much money it will save us in the long run.

This scenario happened again this year except we didn't need to go to the store to find one. We already knew what was out there and at the end of our discussion, we both just couldn't give up the best part of a Christmas tree: the smell and the "living" aspect of it. There's something so poetic and so beautiful about that.

We went to the Christmas tree lot and started scanning the noble firs (our personal family pick). The first tree we unwrapped was perfect. No, it has a few crooked branches and the top isn't perfectly straight but I love it that way. I feel like Christmas trees should be just a tiny bit imperfect.

We came home, put William to bed and started decorating (the top half of the tree, as you can see). It was fun to see all of our ornaments that we've parted with for a year. I could be heard saying, "Oh! I forgot about this one!" many times. I loved putting up a few of the new ornaments that we bought in New York.

David has an ornament for every year of his life so I bought William his first ornament last year. I'm personally partial to something more unique than your traditional "My First Christmas" type ornament so I searched for something that was my taste but still had a baby-ish feel to it: enter these adorable tiny shoes from Anthropologie last year. They never fit William's giant baby-man feet but the concept is really cute.

The next morning William woke up and it was still dark outside so I turned on the tree lights before I took him out of his crib. When we walked into the living room, he was amazed. I put him down and he toddled right over to the front of the tree and just gazed at it for a moment (before he dove into its piney depths). Even as an adult, I feel the same way - in awe and so peaceful as I gaze at the Christmas tree.