A Christmas First

Kevin's family uses real trees for Christmas. Usually, they have it already in the house, ready for us to decorate. This year, they decided we could choose one from the yard. They planted these trees several years ago and we decided it was time to cut one down! We all went outside and walked around all the trees.




We finally selected one and Ben was ready to cut it down. Unfortunately, the saw wasn't very sharp and it was a little painful to be in all those needles. Kevin took over and cut down the tree!




Once it was free, he turned it upside down and shook out the leaves and debris from the inside of the tree. It took several shakes but he's a pro tree shaker so it wasn't tough for him.

Here it is in place but not decorated yet.

And here it is decorated. I kept it simple with lights and ornaments. That's how I do it on our fake tree at home and with the skinny branches of this tree, I wasn't sure it could hold much more.

I love all the colored lights. A couple strings were dead so Kevin's mom and brother picked up some more strings for me. I think it looks great and I love that we got it from the back yard!

Merry Christams!