A Wild Tree and a Simple Christmas

We cracked open our bins of Christmas decorations this past week! My husband put up all the outside lights, we got a Christmas tree, and I started writing a December to-do list.

It has always been our family’s tradition to go cut our own tree on the first Sunday of Advent, and this year we went with some of our Tennessee friends. Now I’d love to say it was a picturesque, sweet bonding time as a family. But for the sake of keeping things real, let’s just say there were some pretty miserable moods going on in the kid department. We ended up not decorating the tree till a couple days later. You really can’t force people to have fun, as any parent of a young child well knows. (We did have a lot of fun together when we finally got around to it, though!)

Here’s the finished product, in all its untamed glory. I love wild trees. I was actually a little bit disappointed at first, because all the trees we were finding at the tree farm were the typical, perfectly-pruned, full, bushy spruces that most people think of when they imagine a Christmas tree. This poor thing was thrown in the “wreath tree” section, destined only to be chopped up into boughs for wreaths. Dreadful!

This vintage tree topper was, of course, a thrift store find. When I bought it, a few of the lights weren’t working, but my husband got it all fixed up, and now it’s been in use for the last 4 or 5 years.

We decided to keep Christmas simple this year. I’m happy to have a smaller-than-usual list of things to do and buy. (Usually I’m cramming more things into the margins at the last minute.) I’m making an effort to keep our December calm and focused on the birth of Jesus, particularly for my kids. I hope you can do the same for yourself and your family- you won’t regret letting go of some of the extras!