Is Your Christmas Tree Real or Artificial?
Our Christmas tree is real.
If Your Tree Is Real, What Kind of Tree Is It?
A long-needled pine.
Where Did You Get Your Tree?
My husband and our sons cut it and purchased it at a local tree farm.
Tell Us About Your Christmas Tree:
Our kids found a bird's nest in the tree this year! They were very excited about it and we have the nest sitting on a shelf in the living room. We also changed the location of the tree--we used to put it in the front window, but we moved it to next to the staircase this year. I am hoping the two-year-old doesn't decide to climb from the stairs to the tree.
Tell Us About a Special Ornament or a Family Tradition:
We put our tree up on Gaudete Sunday every year and keep it up until Epiphany. Scott and our boys brave the cold weather to pick out the tree while the girls and I stay home where it's warm. We get the ornaments out and clear an area for the tree while they are out. Then, we all decorate the tree together. Each child receives a new ornament on St. Nicholas Day each December, so they have a small collection of their own ornaments to put on the tree.
We also have a pickle ornament that we hang up on Christmas or Epiphany. The child who find the pickle gets a small gift.
Tips and Tricks
- Keep the breakable ornaments near the top if you have small children.
- My son claims putting aluminum foil around the base of the tree will keep cats from climbing the tree; our cat doesn't try to climb the tree, so I have not tested this.
