Trimming the Tree(s)

POSTED BY: Stefanie LaSalle

Growing up, Halloween was always my favorite holiday because I LOVED dressing up and pretending to be a princess or a princess or a witch princess. But now that I'm older, I'm all about Christmas. I look forward to this time of year for all the reasons they sing about - the tradition, the snow, the family, the good cheer. It's such a long holiday season and it allows us to have time to settle into it and appreciate it. 

The first step of Christmas is decorating the tree. Or in our case, three trees. Three and a half trees. Almost four trees.

LaSalle Tree

My family takes Christmas tradition very seriously. We've had the same artificial Christmas tree since my parents were married in 1982. It can't hold up as many ornaments as it used to, but it's our family tree and I hope we get many more years of enjoyment out of it.  Yes, one branch may have fallen off this year, but dad and Rob wired it back on before we had time to be emotionally devastated by it.

Each of us has a job to help decorate the tree. My mom unwraps all the ornaments and lays them out for us with hooks. My sister is in charge of turning the lights on and off as needed, although she was a little slack this year due to working the midnight-8am shift at the mall on Black Friday, so Rob helped her out. And me and my dad are in charge of testing the lights. 

DISASTER! Half the lights on the string were out and there was no back ups and it is too cold out to go to the store. We checked every damn bulb on that string.

My mom got pretty excited when they suddenly came on. "It's a Christmas miracle," she said.

We all put a little something on the tree, but Kerry and I do the bulk of the decorating. We each have our favorite ornaments to put up each year, so I sort them into two piles and them we put them up.

This is my favorite ornament that I put up. It's a little mouse holding a cherry, sitting in a pie. Three-year old me went crazy for this little guy. Actually, 27 year-old me goes pretty crazy over him too.

This Rudolph is my favorite ornament that I've made myself. He used to have two googly eyes, but one fell off ages ago, and I just drew a line so it looks like he's winking. Now he's a sassy Rudolph.

Brodeur Tree

Rob's family always gets a live tree, and last year I went with them for my first LIVE Christmas tree experience!

Rob's first two choices were very...interesting.

In the end, they decided to go with something a bit more traditional. 

Side note: There was a young man working at the tree farm that stayed with us the entire time. He is hiding behind the tree in this picture which kind of creeps me out and I don't know why.

After a smooth, yet wet, ride on the hood of the car, the tree was unloaded and carried into the house. It smelled SO good, and we didn't even get TOO sappy this year, which was a bonus.

Rob got jealous of all the attention the tree was getting, so he decided to be a tree too!

We have to let the tree settle a bit and dry out before the lights and ornaments go on. But between the smell of the pine and the wood on the fire, it felt like Christmas already.

Rob & Stefanie Tree

I bought this tree when I was living in Woonsocket with Meaghan four or five years ago. I waited until after Christmas and then snagged it for a great price, along with several dozen ornaments. I overestimated the number of ornaments I would need, and when the tree is completely full, back and front, I still have a bag of ball ornaments in the storage box. I try to find places around the apartment to decorate with them, like the hall railings, but in the end, I still have quite a few "back-ups" in the bin.

So many ornaments.

The tree on the left was Rob's little tree that he used to put up in his apartment when he was living alone. It changes colors and looks great in our front window. The mini one on the right used to go in my room every year at my parents house, then it came with me to decorate my dorm at college. Now it's a kitchen tree because why not have a Christmas tree in every single room?

Good luck decorating your trees this year. Because Thanksgiving was so late, it's a short Christmas season, so don't put it off for too long. And remember to be good because Santa is watching!