I ♥ Christmas!  I love it all - the music, the tree, the festivities, the treats, seeing friends and family... This week we kicked off the Christmas season the day we returned from Thanksgiving.  We've worn ourselves out with the festiveness of it all.  But it's been worth it!

The season started with a trip to OSH to pick up our tree.  This year we adopted Lee's past tradition of picking out a tree - sight unseen.  We purchased a bundled up Noble Fir (close to 7 feet tall), threw it on the top of my car (yes, the pickup is in the shop) and took it home.  The helper at OSH was a bit surprised when we didn't want to see what it looked like before purchasing it - I don't think that happens very often.  Our luck was good this year.  Despite it being somewhat crooked - we love our tree.  I was in charge of the lights this year -- and went a little crazy.  One would think 7 strands of lights would be PLENTY for our little tree -- but as it turns out, I'm a strand or two short.  The top of our tree is looking a little dark.  I wasn't a very good judge of just how far (or not far) the lights would go. But, it still looks homey and festive and is laden with our favorite ornaments.  Maybe even too heavily laden.   The night we hung the ornaments we heard a crashing sound from our bedroom.  We walked out to find the tree on the living room floor - with water everywhere.  Fortunately we only had one ornament casualty (although it was a favorite).  Before going back to bed the tree took a 2nd spill.....  But it's been upright for the last 48 hours.  I think we are good to go!

This week was also the Skoll Holiday Party - but we didn't make it since it conflicted with the Friends Annual Christmas Party! It's one of my favorite gatherings of the year.  We gather at the Smoots for a delicious dinner and dessert and have our annual ornament exchange.  This is no simple exchange.  Everyone comes with the best ornament they can find - one that they hope can be loved by all. I've not been very successful with finding the perfect ornament in the past -- but this year we seemed to have nailed it!   Both our ornaments passed hands multiple times.   It's always a lot of fun to pick, steal and wonder what you'll come home with.  Plus, it's such a treat to see friends we rarely see.  We had a great night!

Check out the pictures of our tree!