So, on December 20th our friend Holly invited us over to her house for dinner, and since we weren't sure if we were going to get around to decorating or a tree, we made sure to take some Christmas-y pictures.
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| My favorite ornament on the tree - this awesome retro giraffe. |
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| And this half creepy/half cute doll entranced Holly. ;) |
Christmas Eve!!
So! Christmas Eve came and we decided we must get a Christmas tree. There is a Christmas tree lot at the bottom of our hill, so we decided that we would go down and get a little 2-3 foot tree. We began perusing the trees, and I laughed in shock when I saw single twigs being sold. Really? They give out BOUGHS for free at Christmas tree lots in Mesa!!
Check it out.
$7.50??? RiDICulous! I could NOT believe it. That is a joke. For Real. It makes Charlie Brown's tree look like the Rockefeller Center Christmas giant. And do you see the little 2 footers there? TWENTY-EIGHT dollars! Before tax. A women bought this barren, really skinny, mostly bald 4 footer while we were there- $60. What!? On Christmas Eve even. You think they'd make some sort of deal since in 2 days the season would be over. Nope. Nope. Nope.
I can just imagine the lot owner's conversation over dinner.
"Honey, we can buy that house in Cape Cod you've been wanting. And take that cruise with Kathy Lee Gifford too. ;) You wouldn't believe what those San Franciscans will pay to get Christmas trees into their homes! And when the branches and twigs fell off the trees we sold them for $10 after tax!"*maniacal laughter*
Not wanting to support such blatant robbery, and not wanting to be scalped ourselves, we drove to Colma (nearby town with a Target) to do some last bits of shopping and check out their Christmas tree lot.
Unfortunately the cheapest trees there were $20.
Fortunately those trees were 5-6 feet tall!! :) We were delighted! We walked around the lot just BREATHING in its delights when found a very good looking Douglas Fir that was (after testing) the best smelling tree there. :) Because that is one of the, if not THE most vital part of buying a real, live Christmas tree. It was an EXCEPTIONALLY thrilling purchase. Our first Christmas and our first Christmas tree. :) We felt so official. ;)
We cautiously made our way home with our happy tree tied to the top of our car, and went home to decorate him! We named him Ebenezer (for after his change of heart Scrooge kept Christmas best of anyone!) and strung our lights and popcorn on him. When we strung our popcorn earlier we thought we'd be getting a much smaller tree, so there wasn't as much as we'd hoped, but while I fed Deborah, Derek put them up in such a way as you can hardly tell. :) He did a great job. I hastily made our Christmas tree star - cardboard with tin foil wrapped around it, but it got the idea across at any rate. ;)
So! Christmas Eve came and we decided we must get a Christmas tree. There is a Christmas tree lot at the bottom of our hill, so we decided that we would go down and get a little 2-3 foot tree. We began perusing the trees, and I laughed in shock when I saw single twigs being sold. Really? They give out BOUGHS for free at Christmas tree lots in Mesa!!
Check it out.
I can just imagine the lot owner's conversation over dinner.
"Honey, we can buy that house in Cape Cod you've been wanting. And take that cruise with Kathy Lee Gifford too. ;) You wouldn't believe what those San Franciscans will pay to get Christmas trees into their homes! And when the branches and twigs fell off the trees we sold them for $10 after tax!"*maniacal laughter*
Not wanting to support such blatant robbery, and not wanting to be scalped ourselves, we drove to Colma (nearby town with a Target) to do some last bits of shopping and check out their Christmas tree lot.
Unfortunately the cheapest trees there were $20.
Fortunately those trees were 5-6 feet tall!! :) We were delighted! We walked around the lot just BREATHING in its delights when found a very good looking Douglas Fir that was (after testing) the best smelling tree there. :) Because that is one of the, if not THE most vital part of buying a real, live Christmas tree. It was an EXCEPTIONALLY thrilling purchase. Our first Christmas and our first Christmas tree. :) We felt so official. ;)
We cautiously made our way home with our happy tree tied to the top of our car, and went home to decorate him! We named him Ebenezer (for after his change of heart Scrooge kept Christmas best of anyone!) and strung our lights and popcorn on him. When we strung our popcorn earlier we thought we'd be getting a much smaller tree, so there wasn't as much as we'd hoped, but while I fed Deborah, Derek put them up in such a way as you can hardly tell. :) He did a great job. I hastily made our Christmas tree star - cardboard with tin foil wrapped around it, but it got the idea across at any rate. ;)
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| Ebenezer :) |
We made some DELICIOUS pizza and drank hot chocolate afterwards in the glow of our new tree while we cheered each others good qualities and shared the things we love about one another. Possibly my favorite Christmas tradition growing up, and one that Derek & I loved starting in our own, new family. We cheered Deborah too, even though she was sleeping. (A rare enough of an occurance that we didn't dare wake her. ;) And the most important part of Christmas, we read the birth of Jesus Christ in Luke II to each other.
Best Christmas present ever!
Christmas Morn!!
We opened the stockings right after church, enjoyed a delicious breakfast of sausage, eggs, and orange juice afterwards, changed into our comfy jams and opened presents.
We opened the stockings right after church, enjoyed a delicious breakfast of sausage, eggs, and orange juice afterwards, changed into our comfy jams and opened presents.
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| to Derek, a tennis player before he went to dental school, I gave tennis balls with a coupon for 4 tennis dates until March for us to play. As I have absolutely no background in tennis, he will have to teach me. He was so excited about it he drew a diagram and went over the rules with me (theoretically since it wasn't time for the date yet) for the next few days. |
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| Derek took a book given away to us we didn't want, and cut out the pages to stick the present of a DVD hidden inside the book. I was so sure I had gotten a book all that time leading up to Christmas - it was a shock, but most pleasant! He gave me a DVD of Martha Graham dances. I LOVE Martha Graham technique. I was thrilled! I just love dancing her technique for modern!! Boy, I miss dancing. I LOVE watching it though. |
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| And Derek with the wool scarf I made him! :) I'm so happy he likes it and has actually been wearing it! :) |
Like Ebenezer Scrooge said, may the spirit of Christmas abide in our hearts all year long!
3 comments:
Now, THAT'S the Amanda-Posts we know and love ;)
Beautiful, all of it! (and that scarf is amazing! Very masculine. :)
that scarf really is amazing! It all looks so fun. Christmas time is amazing. Deb looks so cute and so loved! and I can't believe how good you look! so skinny even after a baby it makes me want to cry. ALSO did i miss the rest of your birth story? you should just email it to me. I love a good birth story also i didn't know you were doing it natural and I would like to hear your thoughts and experience on that. love you Manda! what a cute little family you have!
how cute! I don't think any baby cold be sweeter then Deborah!
She looks so nice in all the pictures!
how did you get a such cute and sweet baby?
I miss you!
~BRITYN
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