"Honey, do you think you have enough room for the angel?"

Usually, we go and cut our tree down from a tree farm. Last year, we just bought one from a tree lot.  It wasn't as cool.  So, this year we went back to the tree farms. I'm sure Garrett would rather get it from a lot.  I'm sure it's much easier on him. 

Looking for the perfect tree...

Found it!  Garrett likes to pick the biggest, tallest tree that he can find--so big and beautiful, but we always end up cutting a lot off so that we can fit it in our house.

Noah LOVES to be outside, so he was having a great time!

Maggie was trying to catch up with Garrett so that she could help carry the tree.  But, she couldn't ever get caught up.

Getting the tree home was quite the adventure.  First off, we have a perfectly good truck that we could use, but it doesn't fit all 7 of us.  So, we took our suburban.  Second of all, we forgot to bring rope.  Oops!  Luckily, the lady had something we could use.  Something thin and not super strong, but something nonetheless.  Third, this tree was massive--and really heavy.  Garrett had to get another guy to help him get it up on our car, and even with his help, they had a heck of a time.  Once we got it on, Garrett tried to tie it with the thin plastic rope as best he could.  But, Garrett didn't feel that it was secured enough, so the whole ride home, he hung on to the tree through our moonroof.  He froze his arm off.  I had to take a picture though, because I thought it was hilarious.  He cussed the whole way home about not being able to use his truck...and how "next time we're leaving someone home".  Ha ha ha! 

The tree ended up being almost 12 feet tall, so we had to get it down to 8 1/2 feet, so we could have room for our angel.  We (I should say Garrett, since he does all the work) also had a heck of a time getting it to stand up straight in the tree stand.  It kept leaning off to one side, so Garrett had to stick some pieces of wood down the sides of the tree stand, so that it would stand up somewhat straight.  It still leans a bit, so we tethered the tree to the wall, just in case it tried to tip over.

Noah helping daddy with the lights. 

Everytime I decorate a tree, I can't help but think, "SQUIRREL!"

Taking an eggnog break

Isn't he adorable?

Decorating the tree...normally we have all red lights, but this year I was wanting to do white.  But, I didn't have enough white lights.  So, we went with red and white.  I really like the way it turned out!

Noah helping decorate the tree.  That first night, he kept trying to take all the ornaments off, but after telling him not to touch it anymore...he really hasn't touched it since.  Thank heavens. 

The beautiful finished product!