Christmas in 1,2,3:

It is finally beginning to feel like Christmas in North Florida (rainy, and 50 degrees)! While the weather is just now getting in the Christmas spirit, I have been a little Christmas elf since the weekend after Thanksgiving. 

This being my first year to put up my own Christmas Tree, my husband kindly drove to the closest Christmas Tree farm about 30 minutes outside of Tallahassee. Little did we Floridians know traditional Christmas trees don't grow in Florida (this seems quite obvious now)! The cute little farm only grew cyprus trees and something like a fuzzy pine tree. While the experience of cutting down our own tree was quite tempting, those little flexible branches would have never held all of our ornaments! So we both decided we would stick with the classic Fraser, the smell alone is worth it. Lucky for us the farm also carried Frasers and very fresh ones at that! It was easy to pick our tree because when I make up my mind...I make up my mind! 

 (The Cyprus) 

(The lucky tree that came home with us.)

 It wasn't more than 30 minutes before the tree was in the house that we had begun the decoration process! Last year after Christmas I sorted all of my ornaments from my parents because I knew I would be decorating my own tree soon. As a kid growing up I always received ornaments as presents. While it wasn't exciting to open yet another ornament year after year, boy am I thankful now. Every ornament has a memory and I think I reminded my husband of every story as I placed each ornament on the tree!

Ok, So the process may not have been as fast as "1,2,3" but it was fun and having a decorated a tree in your home is such a wonderful reminder of Christmas. It automatically lightens your mood the moment those twinkling light flicker on. From my "experience" here are a few tips to help decorate your tree (if it your first or 100th) and make it an enjoyable experience:

1. Go into the process knowing putting up (and detangling) the lights is the most tedious part, after that the rest is fun! 

2. Write your memories and dates on the bottom/back of your ornament. Like I mentioned each ornament has a story. While I don't remember some of those stories perfectly, a simple reminder of the year or event serves as a fun reminder. 

3. Don't attempt the decorating by yourself! 

4. A Christmas tree doesn't have to be red and green! I love the fact that our tree matches our living room and shows our personality (lots of owls, burlap, fish, and FSU)

4. Always remember the reason for the season!     

                                          

The Final Product:          

With Love,

Katie M.