Oh my goodness, I am so excited for this post. Obviously Christmas is a wonderful time of year, and Daniel and I love it too. We get excited about all the traditions we have already begun (buying a new ornament from Pier 1 each year on black Friday; buying a box of fancy chocolates and splitting one each night [our fancy, shmancy version of an advent calendar] as we read the advent devotional Gordon-Conwell puts out every year to name a few), as well as all the traditions we have with our families that we look forward to when we go home. Getting a Christmas tree is always a highlight though.
Our first year of marriage we were still in Washington and got our first Christmas tree on a whim one night from Home Depot in Issaquah I think. In December 2007 we decided not to get a tree (sniff, sniff) since we were in Massachusetts and would be traveling home for Christmas. We did decorate our living room with lights and ornaments though! :) In December 2008 we decided to get a tree even though we go home for Christmas and are glad we did, even if it was short and shout and overpriced thanks to Beverly Little League. :) In December 2009 (click on this link to see a very hairy Daniel) we thought that we were not allowed to get a tree (new GCTS apartment rule) but then all of a sudden that rule was discontinued so we hurried and got our tree asap once again from dear old Home Depot. :)
This year deserves a little more background. There is an adorable little house on Dodge Street in Beverly, not too far from the Seminary, that we have loved since we moved here. Without a doubt, we have pointed it out to every person who ever visited us as it is on a huge property and it is just the cutest looking red barn. Over the years we have speculated what it was as we never really saw too many cars parked there. We almost thought it might be a Christmas tree farm (as you could see some growing behind the barn), but at Christmas time there were never any trees for sale.
Well, since we moved to our new place we unfortunately do not drive down Dodge Street much anymore. But a few weeks ago I was zoning out while driving home, missed my exit, had to take the next one and happened to drive down Dodge Street. Well, at this adorable little house what do I see but a sign. A very special sign saying that the Beverly Tree Farm would be open starting the day after Thanksgiving for coming and cutting down your own Christmas tree!! I was ecstatic and knew that Daniel and I would go this year. I hurried home and told Daniel and he was just as excited as I was!!! We were thrilled to get to go to our favorite house and cut down our own tree, no matter how much it cost. We had planned to go the day after Thanksgiving but it was raining and yucky, so we ran mondo-errands Friday and got our tree on Saturday instead.
Seriously we had an amazing time. We pulled in and followed the signs that led us into the barn (?!?!?! We had no idea we would actually get to go inside! We were thrilled.) Inside was cider, hot cocoa, Christmas cookies and a large fire. We got the information, a tree tag, a saw, and headed out to find our tree. (Funny side note, on our way out to pick our tree we saw our dear friends Ross and Emily coming back with their tree!! Everyone loves the Beverly Tree Farm.) We seriously wandered around for about 45 minutes looking the THE TREE. It was freezing outside, but we just could not commit. The trees were all beautiful, but we had a certain size, shape, and type in mind and wouldn't settle until we found it.
Excited to be walking into the barn!
Heading out...
Carefully considering.
We ALMOST got this one...then decided it was a little sparse at the top.
Then we found it, the ONE. :)
It was so cute I had to give it a hug. :)
I even got to saw a little bit! Not much progress was made so D took back over. :)
Our tree is seriously perfect, well, we think so at least. :) We both took turns sawing it down and then waited with it for the truck to pick it up. We headed back to the barn to warm up with some cocoa and cookies and paid for our tree. It was pricey, $69 with tax, but it was totally, completely 100% worth it. Plus, apparently all the profits from the tree sales (meaning above and beyond the cost to maintain the property, plant new trees, etc.) would be going to a local charity! We had such a fun experience and are sold on the Christmas tree farm idea!
Warming up by the fire.
The barn, from a different angle.
We were able to find out a little background by talking to one of the owners (the wife) while paying for our tree. You can actually read about it in the website as well, but basically the property used to be a Christmas tree farm back in the day. The current owners bought it about 10 years ago though, and had to spend time cleaning up the property and planting new trees (the trees on it were overgrown and too large) before they could open for business again. So this was their first year in business, and we can't wait to go back to them again and again as long as we live here! (It doesn't hurt that they are only 4 miles from our current house either!) :)
Setting up the tree. ALSO, maybe this was a fluke/very lucky of us, but we have a fabulous new technique for getting the tree into the tree stand! Normally it is such a pain with one of us holding the tree and the other laying on the floor twisting the screw things, making a million adjustments until it is just right. Well this year, Daniel laid the tree on its side, we put on the stand, twisted them all in until they were tight, turned the tree upright, and lo and behold it was perfectly straight! A Christmas miracle perhaps, but we will definitely try this new technique again next year!
Removing the netting...
We hurried home to trim the tree. Daniel went to CVS for our customary last minute Christmas tree accessory run. This year it was LIGHTS (again). Only one strand was actually broken, but I was determined to appease Daniel this year in his request for MORE LIGHTS. Apparently in the past when I would put lights on the tree there would no be enough. Daniel really wanted the tree to sparkle and shine I guess, and our tree apparently was always slightly lacking. So, on our little 6 foot tree there are TEN stands of lights. That is 1,000 lights on our tree; I am surprised we have not blown a fuse. :) It is insanity but I will give Daniel some credit, it looks nice and sparkly. :)
Also new this year is the beloved ribbon. Daniel's mom always would do up a beautiful tree accessorized with ribbon; Daniel's sister Jennifer has beautiful trees complete with ribbon as well. When Jennifer and fam visited last October I asked for her sage advice in hopes she would help me in understanding the ways of decorating a tree with ribbon. (Ribbon did not make an appearance last year because we thought we couldn't get a tree, then we did last minute, but I had no ribbon, etc.) Well this year I bought ribbon back in OCTOBER (from Costco because of its large size, per her recommendation) so I was ready and raring to go. :) I may have gone a little overboard on ribbon (since I almost finished off our huge Costco roll on our modestly sized tree) but we don't have a ton of ornaments so the ribbon fills some of the void I suppose. :)
The finished product.
We love our tree oh so much and enjoy sitting and reading in the living room admiring it. Yay for Christmas, we love this time of year!!
Our first year of marriage we were still in Washington and got our first Christmas tree on a whim one night from Home Depot in Issaquah I think. In December 2007 we decided not to get a tree (sniff, sniff) since we were in Massachusetts and would be traveling home for Christmas. We did decorate our living room with lights and ornaments though! :) In December 2008 we decided to get a tree even though we go home for Christmas and are glad we did, even if it was short and shout and overpriced thanks to Beverly Little League. :) In December 2009 (click on this link to see a very hairy Daniel) we thought that we were not allowed to get a tree (new GCTS apartment rule) but then all of a sudden that rule was discontinued so we hurried and got our tree asap once again from dear old Home Depot. :)
This year deserves a little more background. There is an adorable little house on Dodge Street in Beverly, not too far from the Seminary, that we have loved since we moved here. Without a doubt, we have pointed it out to every person who ever visited us as it is on a huge property and it is just the cutest looking red barn. Over the years we have speculated what it was as we never really saw too many cars parked there. We almost thought it might be a Christmas tree farm (as you could see some growing behind the barn), but at Christmas time there were never any trees for sale.
Well, since we moved to our new place we unfortunately do not drive down Dodge Street much anymore. But a few weeks ago I was zoning out while driving home, missed my exit, had to take the next one and happened to drive down Dodge Street. Well, at this adorable little house what do I see but a sign. A very special sign saying that the Beverly Tree Farm would be open starting the day after Thanksgiving for coming and cutting down your own Christmas tree!! I was ecstatic and knew that Daniel and I would go this year. I hurried home and told Daniel and he was just as excited as I was!!! We were thrilled to get to go to our favorite house and cut down our own tree, no matter how much it cost. We had planned to go the day after Thanksgiving but it was raining and yucky, so we ran mondo-errands Friday and got our tree on Saturday instead.Seriously we had an amazing time. We pulled in and followed the signs that led us into the barn (?!?!?! We had no idea we would actually get to go inside! We were thrilled.) Inside was cider, hot cocoa, Christmas cookies and a large fire. We got the information, a tree tag, a saw, and headed out to find our tree. (Funny side note, on our way out to pick our tree we saw our dear friends Ross and Emily coming back with their tree!! Everyone loves the Beverly Tree Farm.) We seriously wandered around for about 45 minutes looking the THE TREE. It was freezing outside, but we just could not commit. The trees were all beautiful, but we had a certain size, shape, and type in mind and wouldn't settle until we found it.
Excited to be walking into the barn!
Heading out...
Carefully considering.
We ALMOST got this one...then decided it was a little sparse at the top.
Then we found it, the ONE. :)
It was so cute I had to give it a hug. :)
I even got to saw a little bit! Not much progress was made so D took back over. :)
Warming up by the fire.
The barn, from a different angle.
We were able to find out a little background by talking to one of the owners (the wife) while paying for our tree. You can actually read about it in the website as well, but basically the property used to be a Christmas tree farm back in the day. The current owners bought it about 10 years ago though, and had to spend time cleaning up the property and planting new trees (the trees on it were overgrown and too large) before they could open for business again. So this was their first year in business, and we can't wait to go back to them again and again as long as we live here! (It doesn't hurt that they are only 4 miles from our current house either!) :)
Setting up the tree. ALSO, maybe this was a fluke/very lucky of us, but we have a fabulous new technique for getting the tree into the tree stand! Normally it is such a pain with one of us holding the tree and the other laying on the floor twisting the screw things, making a million adjustments until it is just right. Well this year, Daniel laid the tree on its side, we put on the stand, twisted them all in until they were tight, turned the tree upright, and lo and behold it was perfectly straight! A Christmas miracle perhaps, but we will definitely try this new technique again next year!
Removing the netting...
We hurried home to trim the tree. Daniel went to CVS for our customary last minute Christmas tree accessory run. This year it was LIGHTS (again). Only one strand was actually broken, but I was determined to appease Daniel this year in his request for MORE LIGHTS. Apparently in the past when I would put lights on the tree there would no be enough. Daniel really wanted the tree to sparkle and shine I guess, and our tree apparently was always slightly lacking. So, on our little 6 foot tree there are TEN stands of lights. That is 1,000 lights on our tree; I am surprised we have not blown a fuse. :) It is insanity but I will give Daniel some credit, it looks nice and sparkly. :)Also new this year is the beloved ribbon. Daniel's mom always would do up a beautiful tree accessorized with ribbon; Daniel's sister Jennifer has beautiful trees complete with ribbon as well. When Jennifer and fam visited last October I asked for her sage advice in hopes she would help me in understanding the ways of decorating a tree with ribbon. (Ribbon did not make an appearance last year because we thought we couldn't get a tree, then we did last minute, but I had no ribbon, etc.) Well this year I bought ribbon back in OCTOBER (from Costco because of its large size, per her recommendation) so I was ready and raring to go. :) I may have gone a little overboard on ribbon (since I almost finished off our huge Costco roll on our modestly sized tree) but we don't have a ton of ornaments so the ribbon fills some of the void I suppose. :)
The finished product.
We love our tree oh so much and enjoy sitting and reading in the living room admiring it. Yay for Christmas, we love this time of year!!
2 comments:
Gorgeous tree! Nicely done! :)
What a perfect tree! I envy what is smells like...hahaha... sounds like such a wonderful time getting it too!!..and btw 1000 lights is so NOT too many!! I used to have 2500 on my 7 ft tree... :)
Love you guys!!
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