Holiday Traditions and Memories, Part 1 - The Tree

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As part of my swap package, I'm supposed to write up a "tradition" tutorial, and a recipe. Well, I'm having so much fun remembering holidays past as I try to figure out what on earth I should write up for my tutorial and recipe (and of course there are way too many recipes to choose from), that I feel myself wanting to write up a lot more than that. So I'm sharing with you lucky people.

Yeah, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet. These swaps take time. Get over it. :-)

And now, for part 1 - the tree...

Growing up, Christmas time was the best. It all started with what I like to call the annual Christmas Tree Brawl. A week or so before Christmas, we'd venture out to the u-cut Christmas tree farm. The five of us would trudge out in the mud (I lived in Washington, it was always muddy out there at Christmas time!), and each seek out the perfect Christmas tree. Then my two brothers and I would get into a big, light-hearted argument about who picked the best tree. Even if we secretly agreed, we still argued. It was all part of the fun. I'm sure it drove my mother crazy!

We'd bring the tree home, and Dad would set it up in a five-gallon bucket in the living room. Then, we'd decorate. Because I was the youngest, my ornaments always had to go on the bottom of the tree. One year, the dog chewed up almost all my ornaments! I still have the Snow White ornament that I rescued that year, complete with a puncture wound or two.

The Christmas tree stayed up until Epiphany, on January 6. Then we knew that Christmas was officially over.

Now we have an artificial tree, which I usually put up early in December. Hubby doesn't like to decorate, so I hanging the ornaments is a special me-time, done while drinking a big mug of hot chocolate and watching my Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas video, the sappiest Christmas special known to man, and my all time favorite.