O Christmas Tree

Every year at Christmas time it seems Lily finds a favorite Christmas "thing." You might remember last year it was Rudolph-the-Red-Nosed Reindeer. Even at her first Christmas (6 months old), she carried around a little Mrs. Santa Claus everywhere.

This year's favorite - the Christmas tree!

She loves the Christmas tree we picked out this year: We've had the lights on all day long when we're home. In the mornings, instead of eating breakfast at the kitchen table, she sets up one of her chairs as a table for her plate of waffles, and sits down to eat, right in front of the tree.

The annual hunt for the tree was wonderful too. This year marked the third time we went out to Northern Lights Christmas tree farm for our tree. I don't know that we'll ever be able to go to another place - the first time we went was two years ago, just four days after Baby Grace died. It was one of the first times I had enjoyed myself in weeks. Going annually is a new family tradition that I treasure.

And that Lily thinks is just plain fun -

The first tree Lily picked out was downright huge - as wide as it was tall. That definitely was one big, lovely tree, but Jeremy would have had to wrestle it in and out of the house.

We found a great close second:

Lily enjoyed putting the ornaments on the tree and helping arrange the lights. Mostly, she loves to admire its beauty.

Taking the Christmas tree down is always a little bittersweet. I'm usually ready to move on and clean up the house, but am a little sad to see the excitement of Christmas go. It may be even a little more bitter to take down the tree this year, given how much Lily loved it.

The tree served as a backdrop for a grand Christmas Eve, with Lily - who had eaten one too many Christmas cookies - dancing and laughing with family looking on, and for what was one of my most favorite Christmas mornings. More on that later...

For now, here's a sneak peek of how the tree looked early Christmas morning, ready for the squeals and dancing from an excited four-year-old, who had been very good this year!

Merry Christmas everyone!