It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

First of all, a note about the title of this post: I'm writing this at the end of February, long after the festivity of the Christmas season has been packed away, so nothing to me right now looks like Christmas. But, let's get real, the December weather here in Milpitas didn't look a lot like Christmas either. We had to take care of that ourselves. Luckily I had a few elves to help me.

The Boy Scout Christmas tree lot wasn't exactly the U-cut farm we've visited the last few years, but who can argue with a tree lot next door to Foster's Freeze? An ice cream treat added all the chill and frostiness we needed for our holiday outing.

Back in the garage, all the kids wanted to help trim the end off the trunk:

 

It was a short tree--the tall ones are a bit pricier away from the forest--but we had just as much fun decorating it and filling it with all our favorite ornaments the next Sunday evening.

Pulling out our ornaments each year and being reminded of places we've visited, friends who gave us gifts, and past Christmases is always one of my favorite moments of the Christmas season.

I used to sort all the ornaments into each family member's pile without any help, but the kids are always so eager to see and touch the ornaments themselves that last year we began a new tradition where I pull out an ornament and tell them its origin. Then each child gets a turn putting an ornament in the correct pile. Once the ornaments are all sorted, we take turns choosing from the "family" pile so that everyone has their own stash from which to decorate. Then we go for it.

We even had a pirate join us for the occasion.

 

Here's Adah showing off a reindeer ornament she made a few years ago from pipe cleaners and buttons:

 

I love this Christmas-tree-decorating tradition and seeing the house transformed by snowmen, stockings, wreaths, jingle bells, and gingerbread houses. I love the Christmas music, the fudge, and peppermint that you encounter everywhere. But mostly, I love seeing the moments when my family recognizes that the season is about the birth of Jesus Christ and celebrating the gift of His life, as when I found Gunnar quietly playing with our Nativity scene.