December 2, 2011

Hello December

Can you believe it's here?
The fall decorations are back in the attic.  The pumpkins are tossed into the woods.
The lights have been pulled out.
The kids are giddy because we changed things up this year.  We stepped away from the Olde Southern tradition of white lights and added some color.  First time since I was a very young child.  My brother thinks I lost my marbles.
The tree is filled with glory.  We like to get it up as soon as possible.  How about you?
We're early birds.  We usually choose-n-cut in the NC mountains over the Thanksgiving weekend; haul it home, and have it glowing by Tuesday.  This year, because of the way the calendar landed Thanksgiving, we had it up before December!

Here are a few highlights from our Thanksgiving weekend:

Apparently we like to wear costumes to play football in the backyard.

It was the warmest Thanksgiving we can ever remember.  Two days after we left, they had a snowstorm.

I overcame my unfortunate event from the last time we were in the mountains and got back on the horse.  Literally.

My mom and I have to remind the men that tree shopping is an EVENT.  It's more about the experience and the photo op than the finished product.  After all, it's hard to find an ugly tree in Ashe County.
Not to brag, but did you know that NC is the #2 state in Christmas tree production, second only to Oregon?  It's a $1oo million revenue for our state and we ship trees all over the world to wholesale vendors.  We have about 400 farms that offer choose-n-cut and over 300,00 people take advantage of this fun memory maker!  Ashe county is #1 with 12,000 acres of Christmas tree fun.  That concludes Christmas Trees for 100, Alex.
I realized that this will probably be our last Christmas before a couple of my kids pass me up in height.  Wow.  They sure grow up fast!

Here's what I want to know:
Do you do a live or artificial tree?
When do you decorate your tree?

10 comments:

Kim said...

We go artificial...decorated last weekend! Hope you guys can come see it soon!

O Mom said...

A couple years ago my husband bought me an artificial tree for my Birthday.....he was tired of the "fun" of finding the perfect treee with 4 girls! ha! Thanksgiving weekend the tree goes up usually!

Sandy said...

My husband was a firefighter, so no real trees allowed for us. Bummer for me since I've never had a real tree. :( We don't usually decorate until about two weeks before Christmas. The cats enjoy the bulbs too much!

tarajj said...

I like the new blog header! We do 3 fake trees. One "pretty" one downstairs, one with the collected ornaments upstairs, complete with a gift or two from you! and a Jessie tree for our Advent devotions. Usually the decorating happens Thanksgiving weekend, but this year we traveled to family and a tree is making it up tonight and it is not my tree. I am feeling a bit Grinch like at the moment, maybe tomorrow will bring a new perspective!

Little Oak Table said...

LOVE the color lights! I tried to score some at end of year sales last Christmas and they were SOLD OUT. They cast such a warm glow though-it's cozier than white I think! Hopefully next year we'll be joining you on the color light bandwagon :).

We put our tree up before Thanksgiving. For me, once the Macy's day parade is over on Thanksgiving Day and Santa rolls thru I'm ready for the season :). don't hate me :) LOL

Anonymous said...

I never have commented, so I guess that makes me a lurker. That sounds bad and I don't want to be thought of that way, so I will start commenting.

I like your new photo!

We also get our tree in the NC mountains. We have a family tradition to stop in Sparta, NC on the Saturday after Thanksgiving on the way home from visiting my family in East TN. We always eat at Brown's Diner, watch the Christmas parade and then head over to Edwards Tree Farm and pick out a tree. This year we got the biggest tree we have ever bought. They don't look so big growing on the side of a hill! It's so big it kind of scares me every morning when I come downstairs!

I love reading your sweet blog.

Tracey said...

Ours is artificial and we decorate the day after Thanksgiving. AND...while I am as southern as they come, we have always had multi-colored lights. Because kids love them and they are much more fun to look at when I take out my contacts. ;)

Congrats on the horse ride! So happy to see you back in the saddle...pain free!

Laura Robinson said...

Artificial ever since the babies were born. I always wanted real when I was growing up, but now that I'm the one vacuuming the carpet...I understand why my mom wasn't a fan.
I sure do wish I had the smell of real but Bath and Body Works makes some wall flowers pretty close (And I get a few cuttings from a tree lot to tuck around the house for a real smell.)
Maybe once I don't have children young enough to have a desire to touch it every time they pass by (and old enough to help out with the vacuuming) we will try out a real one :)

Rebecca said...

I can't help but notice your Christmas Tree pictures.....love the lights. Beautiful photography!

Brook said...

REAL because my Momma told me that was how we should do it. So we do :) I buy 2 real trees, one for our family, one for her b/c she lives with Jesus now and left me with all of her massive ornament collection :) I can't imagine doing it any other way. I totally agree with you Gretchen! The tree picking is an event. Its my absolute favorite event of the Christmas season :)