Christmas Time!

We were a little unsure about eating the top of our cake. This first year of marriage has gone by so fast!

Andrew grew a beard. He only kept it long enough for his dad to see it, and then he shaved it.

Portia says Merry Christmas too!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. Last year's Christmas was a little bit of a whirlwind for Andrew and I. We got back from our Honeymoon and the next day we went tree shopping. I was determined that we would have our first Christmas tree. The best part about getting our tree 4 days before Christmas was that it was only $7.00 from Lowe's. We got the tree home and got to decorating. The fun part of marriage for us is learning how differently we see things. I expected Andrew to help me put the tree up, string the lights on, help put our Christmas ornaments on it. Andrew expected to set the tree up, string the lights and then hurriedly make dinner because it was a Sunday night and we had to go to church. He didn't know that I expected him to help me decorate the tree and I didn't know that it wasn't as special of a tradition for him to decorate the tree.

We learned from that experience.

This year, we got our tree a few days after Thanksgiving. We once again went to Lowe's (are we starting a new tradition?) to get our real tree. We went home and set it in our "last minute" tree stand from last year. We got the tree straight and it is a beautiful tree!! We put our lights and decorations on the tree. My grandmother started the tradition of giving us an ornament every year. I love that I have these ornaments because it brings back such good memories. I have a collection of Grinch ornaments, some chickens in a coop that sing when hooked up, and a pretty Barbie ornament that I love. I have already decided that when Andrew and I start a family, our children and grandchildren will also be getting ornaments every year. Andrew and I also have a lot of ornaments that the College and Career class got for us at our wedding shower. When we were done decorating, our tree looked beautiful!!

The ornament on the left is the one that Grandma got me last year that says "Our First Christmas Together" and the one on the left is a church that glows.

Then...the tree slowly started leaning to its right. Hhhmmm. Andrew being the type of person that he is, quickly looked around the kitchen to find an object to stop the tree from leaning. He is like MacGyver in that way. I think Andrew tore some cardboard for our quick fix solution. Later that night, just about to fall asleep we heard a "clatter and sprung from the bed to see what was the matter." Not really, but we did hear a crash and a dog running in fear. We decided to wait til morning to see the damage.

During the night, our tree had fallen over. Luckily we didn't have very many casualties. A few balls were crushed and an angel that had Lisa's name on it (oops) broke. The next day, Andrew went and bought us a decent tree holder and now we have a beautiful tree in our room.