if a tree falls in the sunroom at 5am, does anyone hear it?

answer: yes. but i'll get to that shortly.

it all started last weekend with our kickoff to christmas '09....hunting down the perfect tree. preferably, in a field somewhere with a healthy dose of snow and some crispy winter air. and lots of triangular-shaped beauties to choose from.

after the prerequisite google search [hey, give us a break, we're still new to the area] we moved on to greener pastures....craigslist of course. and lo + behold, we found a local father-son run tree farm right about 8 minutes from our house.

one scenic drive + a frosty traipse through the field and there she was!

thats me, the bump [all zipped in + hidden well!], and our tree. ignore the snaggletooth bottom portion of the tree, we took care of that with our handy saw.

that is, until it broke. then we borrowed one from the gentlemen running the farm and we were back in business.

oh yeah. these things always look bigger once you realize they're going in your house....and in your car. except, some of us like to go griswold-style and just strap the whole thing needles + all to the top of our ride. suuuper klassy. [yes. with a k]
worked like a charm!

so anywho, we got 'er all chiseled down + ready to prop up in the stand....moved on to decorating + lighting....headed to bed pleased as punch with our accomplishments of the day.

until about 5:03am, when we awoke to the sound of shattering glass and tinkling ornaments. ruh rohhh....amazingly the amount of blood shed was rather limited. a couple broken ornaments and, oh right, this guy.

one of a pair of vases i'd bought for our wedding day, to hold flower arrangements. so i guess i figured out what the five year anniversary gift is. broken glass! [ha ha....ha.] really though, no biggie.

since they were partially tucked behind a rocker in the sunroom, preparing to be stuffed with something festive and seasonal, only one broke and more importantly we've now screwed in the trunk of the tree [how are you supposed to remember these minute details, after two years since you've rigged one of these pups up?]

after all that excitement we did get everything ship-shape in the end. oh, tannenbaum!

you're probably shocked to hear this, but i'm not big into red. so the whole red-green christmas package just doesn't get signed for at my door. i prefer to go the way of the bird when i celebrate christmas. peacock plumes that is, as well as a punchy dose of appley green + teal ornaments finished with silvery metallics.


and its kinda purty at night, too. you know our dutch selves love the free reflection of the lights in all the windows. talk about bang for your buck! depending on where you're sitting in the room you can see four or five sets of sparkles at once.

and that's the end of this christmas tree tale. check back for shots of the rest of our '09 christmas decor!