Decking the friggen halls…

Finally, a break.

Life has been crazy, chaotic and insane all-in-one. I got sick with the weird cough thing. We had four thanksgivings to go to and then Christmas prep was in full swing. The first and biggest tradition the Christmas tree.

Our first endeavor was with J’s Dad, step mom, Jenna and Hallie. We went to Granger’s Tree Farm in Mexico, N.Y.  All 6 of us piled into the truck and away we went. There was misconceptions on how the tree was going to look in the Kennedy household, where it was gonna go etc. Everyone had their own opinion and thoughts as to how the tree should look. So it basically came down to the fact we had to find the EXACTLY PERFECT tree. with six of us. It was a task.

I could have sworn we looked at the same 7 trees 7 different times all with walking the same circle over and over.

But Hallelujah we found the EXACT PERFECT tree for the Kennedy Household.

But jokes on us. We had to go two weeks later to get our tree, with Jenna, her husband, and J’s Mom. Fun times had by all.

We decided to make the trip to New London for Shusters Tree Farm. Our tree last year was about 7 feet wide and a blue spruce. I hated it. It was probably the worst tree of my life. It didn’t help that I hadn’t had a real tree since I was about 8. Me and J took off to try to find our tree. We were the first ones out and looking.

However, we were the last ones to find our tree. The most wonderful thing about J is that he loves this time of the year, about as much as I do. I have a joke where I call him Clark Griswold because that is who he truly aspires to be.

We looked and looked for our tree. I knew I wanted smaller than 7 feet wide, and NOT A BLUE SPRUCE. J and I just kept looking and looking for the perfect tree. (Oldest child/perfectionist problems[We are both the oldest of 3]) We finally found it. 32 minutes later and we had sealed the deal.

We all packed our trees up in Santa’s red sleigh… aka J’s truck, and headed for home to drop all the trees off.

Once home, we had to completely rearrange the house because we had received a new dinning room table and there was no easy way to set it up.

J likes to buy new ornaments every year, and just rotate the color scheme. He thinks it make each Christmas more special. I just think he thinks he belong on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but I love him, so I let it go. This year we went with a silver and gold theme, with warm yellow lights. Our tree is perfect and its decorations make it even more wonderful.

I love that I get to spend these moments with J’s family. The excitement of picking out a tree, finding the perfect presents, putting the decoration in just the right gap is all a feeling I have yet to get bored of.

I can only hope that those families that maybe can’t afford to go all out, or whose parents can’t get the day off, or those who can barely afford to put dinner on the table each night, find the peace and happiness that the TRUE Christmas spirit is about. I’m lucky and spoiled to have had such the positive experiences with holidays that I have had. Sometimes, we all need a humble reminder.