Well, our tree is officially up this year! I was feeling stressed, wondering in the whirlwind that is our life right now- when would we find the time to put one up? But we did. One block I had was wondering where we were going to put it. We couldn’t have it too close to the woodstove (which is conveniently blocked off with a long gate), but our living room is a place for regularly playing toddler boys, so I didn’t really want it where it could get bumped into either. Then Jeff had a great idea. He has an old wooden table that’s in the corner of the room, with a leaf that folds out to make it bigger. As soon as he suggested the location, I was really excited. We found the perfect size Christmas tree for us. (Maybe around Bracken’s height?) This year is actually a pretty big tree for us. Most years we’ve gotten tiny potted trees and most of them could barely hold any ornaments. One year Jeff and I got a big tree, but only once. Small trees are our norm. This year we were excited to have a tree that could actually hold up all of our ornaments! We didn’t know if our Christmas tree stand would work for a tree that small, but it did. We listened to Christmas music (on Pandora radio) and we wrapped the tree in lights and I pulled out our box of ornaments. It’s always fun pulling those out once a year and being filled with memories. I think my favorite ornament will always be a little wooden heart that my sister gave me when we were little. She made it with our Grandpa Baker in his woodshop and wrote with pencil in her sweet child’s handwriting: Merry Christmas! Love, Sam. Every year when I pull it out, it makes me smile even more than any of the others. It feels special and sweet to me. There are other favorites of course, but that one will always be near and dear to my heart. This is the first year that Bracken has been involved in decorating the tree. Having it up on a table is nice in that it’s out of the way, but he can still reach the lower branches and hang ornaments on them. He can touch the stockings and the decorations around the tree, but it’s still safe from rough and tumble boys playing around. When we come down in the mornings he says “Yay!” and points to it. He really loves it and seeing the joy in his eyes makes Jeff and I so happy. He told his Grandma Julie all about it over the phone. It’s in a corner, right by our coat rack, but no matter what’s in the area around it, it makes the place feel magical. I pulled out our stockings this year and we even decided to have a stocking for our chickens. (It’s okay, you can laugh, I think it’s funny too.) I want to put some special treats in there for them. 

There’s just something so magical about a lit up tree in the darkness of this season, isn’t there? Every time I look at it, especially at night, it fills me with a warm feeling. When we walk in the living room we can smell the delicious scent of pine. Something about looking at our Christmas tree makes me relax and breathe deeper. And it always reminds me of all the times my mom woke up my sister and I before school and would let us lay on the couch, watching the lights of the tree with eyes half closed, to gently wake up for the day. That was a fun tradition we did each year and those little lights filled me with pure wonder. 

Now I get to see that wonder in Bracken and what a joy that truly is.