Trim a tree

For the third year now we continued the tradition of picking out a Christmas tree just two blocks away at the outdoor patio for Will's Northwoods Bar.  

 Luke scoping out his first Christmas tree

Kate and Daddy posing with a tree

 We chose a 7 1/2 ft. Fraser Fir grown in Wisconsin.  Daddy chose to save his back and have it delivered! 

 Included in delivery was set up, which was really nice.  Getting it straight in the stand is not easy with only two adults.  Here's a before picture-

 Kate was super enthusiastic about decorating the tree.  I hadn't intended for decorating the big tree with all the fragile ornaments to be a family activity but she wanted so badly to help and Kurt found some less fragile ornaments for her to focus on and she did really well.

I don't think we'll let Luke near the tree much at all.  He tries to pull himself up on just about everything and he's bound to put the needles in his mouth!

 And the finished product-

 Our ornament collection has grown dramatically in the past 6 years.  Kurt's family always exchanged ornaments reflective of the activities or events of the past year.  So since we got engaged we've always continued that tradition and searched for ornaments on any special vacations.  Here are some close ups of some of my favorites-

 In this picture you can see the butterfly we gave Kate for Christmas in 2007 because her nursery was decorated with a butterfly print.  And a lobster on top of a lobster trap from our trip to Newport, RI for a wedding in 2005.

 Here is the hot air balloon ornament that Kurt's parents gave us in 2004 to remind us of the wonderful ride we took in Napa on our honeymoon.

Rodney Robot that we gave Kate in 2009.  This was truly one of her favorite songs from the Wiggleworms class she took in the winter of 2009 at Old Town School of Music.

A lady bug- Kate's Halloween costume in 2008.  And lastly a daddy with a daughter in a seat on the back of his bike - this was one of Kate's favorite activities with her dad in the summer/fall of 2009 so she picked out this special ornament for him last year.  

 I wonder what this year will bring?!