Hi! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I meant to post so much sooner, but it’s been an exhausting month. I hope you won’t mind a couple of Christmas posts. We are still in the midst of our Christmas season!
Every year, we buy our Christmas tree a few days before Christmas. We don’t have a tradition as far as where we buy it. We watch the farm stand down the road and sometimes buy from them on Christmas Eve when they mark them down. This year their trees were more expensive than usual, and most of the other local tree stands were sold out long before Christmas. So, we found ourselves driving to a local farm to cut a tree, figuring if we were paying more than usual, we wanted a fresh tree that would last. I should add that we’ve gotten lucky and had some rather large trees in recent years, and I think those trees spoiled our children as far as Christmas trees go. In their minds, bigger is best.
When we got out of our van at the farm it was very cold and windy. That didn’t stop our kids from carefully examining all the trees. It didn’t take long for them to declare that they were all too small. For the more dramatic in my family, a small tree practically meant a horrible Christmas. I wasn’t aware that I had raised my children to believe that Christmas is all about the tree (I’m being a little dramatic here too. They don’t think that, but I gave them a hard time for their attitudes.) As far as the small trees went, I didn’t mind at all. I thought they were pretty and liked the idea of a tree that could fit in the back of the van rather than needing to be strapped on top. I just wanted a pretty tree, and there were plenty of pretty trees. As silly as I thought some of my kids were acting over getting a smaller than usual tree, I have to admit that I often get stuck in thinking things need to be a certain way in order for them to be “good” only to realize later that different than what I imagined is fine. Tree aside, Christmas this year was very different than what I imagined it would be, but it was still Christmas and it was good. As far as our little Christmas tree goes, it’s actually not that small. We brought it in on Christmas Eve and decorated it as we do every year. I’m working on Christmas photos and will post them soon. I have lots and lots to share with you over the next week or two (not all Christmas related).
I confess that I am a little nervous about what 2021 will hold. I think for us this will certainly be a year of taking things one day at a time and focusing on the small things.
Bee says
Happy New Year to you too, Ginny! I already wished you a happy one on Instagram, but more wishes can never hurt :).
I hope you guys had a good Christmas, in spite of the pandemic. I’m actually feeling more optimistic about 2021. There’s a vaccine, and hopefully most restrictions will be eased (slowly but surely). I’m hopeful :).
Also, as a side note: when did Larkspur become a full-on teenager? She looks wonderful. That jacket really suits her, too.
Anyway – all the best to all of you! And yes, please – keep ’em coming, those Christmas pictures.
Theresa E Boedeker says
A small Christmas tree would take less to decorate. Less to clean. Less space. Sounds good for me. 🙂
Karen says
your children are growing up so fast!! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Leslie F says
I’m so glad to see more Christmas – without all of the “usual” traditions, it was here and gone before I knew it. Here’s to a Happy and Healthy New Year for you and yours!
That first picture of Larkspur is beautiful! With the wisps of hair across her face and the slightly parted lips, she looks like a model – you really and truly have a gift for capturing gorgeous snapshots. At first glance (and without my glasses), it appeared she’d cut her hair to shoulder length and, given how gorgeous she is in that picture, it would be a great look…
S says
This year I let our 2 boys pick out our tree as our daughter wasn’t able to be home for the annual tradition. It’s probably my favorite tree even though it’s a little crooked in the stand and definitely more sparse than we usually get…but the extra space really allows the lights to shine brightly and the ornaments really stick out no pun intended. Different sometimes is better in the end!
Karen says
I’m happy to see a few more Christmas posts. I also posted about Christmas a bit late.
I hope your year turns out to be pretty great!
Christy says
We had a smaller tree this year too. It was nice not having to chop so much off at the bottom so that the star would not hit the ceiling, lol!! “taking things one day at a time and focusing on the small things.” Yes! In a way, I feel that is how it has always supposed to be, regardless. But just like your tree outing, our eyes are drawn to the larger things.
Happy New Year!
Marilyn says
Your tree is beautiful. it is full at the bottom as is our tree.Our tree was smaller than usual. It actually was better for us. We had a nice Christmas. We missed our friend and her husband coming down the next day. Hopefully next Christmas will be better for traveling. Wishing you and your lovely family a Blessed,Healthy and happy New Year.
Joan,Marion and Marion
Becky Barry says
Happy New Year to you Ginny! Love the pictures of the kids and trees!
One day at a time sounds good for the year!
Kris S. says
As my family has grown (kids, kids-in-law, grandkids plus myself and my husband now number an even dozen) I have come to love a smaller tree at Christmas. This year, I told my 3 grandkids to pick out a tree that was “not taller than Papa”, and they ended up agreeing on one even shorter than Grandma (me). We put it on an overturned wooden crate, so the angel on top is still within a foot of the ceiling and there was lots of room under it for presents while still fitting neatly into the corner of my living room.
sarah says
i love small trees. yours is very handsome, and i’m sure your little ones adored it and the fresh smell it brought into your home.
Kate says
We went to get our Christmas tree the weekend before Christmas as we usually do. There were no cut-yourself farms open near us in central Ohio! They had sold out and some species of trees had been hit by a fungus. It was very disheartening since in previous years we had fun tramping around a family farm looking for the perfect tree. We ended up paying through the nose for an OK cut tree at a nursery. The kids were at first disappointed it was “small”, but I was relieved. Last year’s was so fat and tall that we did not have enough decorations for it and we had to move some furniture out of the living room. (I always forget that a tree looks much smaller outside than in a house.) Once this year’s tree had lights on and was decorated, everyone declared it was beautiful.
We had a snow storm Christmas Eve, which prevented us from driving to Midnight Mass. It was delightful to have a white Christmas, but the boys missed serving for Mass. The choir couldn’t sing either with all its missing snow-bound members. We did make it to Mass on Christmas, thankfully. The Dominican who preached said in the priory (where some of the friars were quarantined with mild covid), they were joking about “the worst Christmas ever.” However, his sermon was about the reason each Christmas is the “best Christmas ever.” No one was sick, all my adult kids were able to come home and we added a son-in-law this year, so it was indeed the best Christmas ever.
Emily DeArdo says
Ha, it’s funny, I just wrote a post about focusing on the small things and going one day at a time. Great minds! Really though, I have no idea where this year is going (Do I ever??) so that’s my feeling. Each day as it comes and then give it to God and go to bed!