Our First Tree

Brad and I got our first Christmas tree this weekend! Since we're going to be in town this year for Christmas, we decided to get a real, live tree. It is Brad's first ever live tree and I am so glad to be back to having a live tree - the college years of fake ones just weren't the same. The smell when you walk into our apartment is fantastic; I wish I could bottle it up to have in there all year long!

After a less than successful shopping trip to Home Depot Saturday to look for a tree, we happened to stop by our local Catholic high school on a whim because they had a small sign indicating they were selling trees. I'm so glad we did! We got a beautiful tree for a good price, and the people were so nice! They helped us get it in the car and soon enough we were on our way.

When we got home, we carried the tree up the three flights of stairs to our apartment (I only wish we had pictures of that!). I brought the tree stand into the hallway and managed to get the tree in with little difficulty and not too many needles covering the carpet. Brad brought it into the apartment and it fit perfectly in the spot we picked out!

We let it settle over night and Sunday afternoon we decorated it. I was worried we wouldn't have enough ornaments, but we even had some to spare. We got all our favorites on, which was important to both of us.

I'm so thankful to have a beautiful tree to celebrate our first Christmas as husband and wife together!

dissatisfaction at Home Depot (sorry Home Depot - we normally love you!)

finally got it up the stairs and into the apartment!

all set up, in the stand and only leaning a little bit

time for decorations

all finished decorating!

Brad's favorite childhood ornament

Tony Stewart #20 NASCAR snowman pit crew

Christina's favorite childhood ornament

replica of the ship we went on for our honeymoon

Mr. and Mrs.

(still to come: the ornament we bought in Pisa, Italy that is currently MIA :) )