Happy Christmas!

This is our Christmas tree! We got it today. It is the first Christmas tree that we've had in 5 years, I'm so excited to have a tree again! It is Winston's first real tree! The first two Christmases that Winston was with us he was a little guy and we were concerned about how he'd do with a real tree so we got a little artificial tree that we used. The past two Christmases we've been out of town so we didn't get a tree. This year we're staying home and so we decided to get the real deal and I'm so glad we did! This tree is a Noble Fir and it is from Mulino, Oregon. We know exactly where Mulino is because it is just down the road from Molalla, Oregon where Dave's uncle Dave, aunt Linda and family live. We've spent the past two New Year's with them. When we saw the tree was from Mulino we knew it was meant to be.
Getting a real tree for the first time in years meant that we pulled out ornaments for the first time in years. This proved to be more emotional than we expected. The ball ornament in the picture above was made for us by our niece Jasmine. We had forgotten all about this treasure. Jasmine passed away 2-1/2 years ago, so it has made this simple ornament even more precious to us. A few tears were shed while decorating the tree, but we also were reminded of many fond memories of past Christmases we've shared.
We even hung our stockings. We don't have a stocking for Winston yet, that can be one of his gifts this year.
Winston celebrated the tree by playing with his Michael Vick football. It cracks me up that he has a Michael Vick football, I don't know where we found it. But Winston loves to chew on it and jump on it and throw it around. When he does this we just encourage him by saying things like, "That's right Winston, you show that Michael Vick what it feels like!'. We're goofy, I know.
Our neighbor has a different kind of tree in his yard. I thought it was worthy of a picture.
Here's a picture of the tree all lit up at night. We got some of those new LED Christmas lights. It is hard to take a good photo of sparkling lights in the dark and I'm an impatient photographer. Dave's the real shutterbug in our house! Happy Holidays everyone!