our first Christmas tree

We got our first Christmas tree this year. This is our fourth Christmas together, but having a tree never made sense - we just aren't home during the holidays (usually a good recipe for trees drying out and causing fires).

But with a daughter on the way, my irrational fire fears took a backseat to my husband's desire for a real Christmas totem and a new tradition.

In the past, family Christmas trees have involved either the existing house plants or a trip to a cut-your-own tree farm. Said tree farms are typically in the middle of nowhere, and our favorite includes TruckGuy - a guy who comes out in his 1972 Subaru pick-up truck once you have selected and cut down your tree somewhere in the middle of a field.

So we headed out for a Christmas tree. We drove a whole quarter of a mile before locating a tree lot. We pulled in, told the guy we were looking for a tree on the small side. He asked, "How small?". My husband resonded' "that one."

The guy tied it on the roof and we drove home.

I think it took less time to drive there, pick out the tree, get it on the car, and drive home than it did to get the tree off the car.

The sort of sad part is: we just took the Christmas tree down. We took off the ornaments. We unwrapped the lights. We went to take the tree out of the tree stand and realized we didn't take any pictures of our first Christmas tree. I hope this isn't indicative of photographic evidence of our daughter's upbrining.