Winter fun ~

I love winter time. No, I don't love the freezing cold temperatures, or the biting wind that we get living in the outskirts of the "windy city", but the snow is beautiful, and I just love this time of year! One of our family traditions is going to cut down our Christmas tree. I grew up with a fake tree, but Aaron, being the Yooper that he is, won't stand for a fake tree. So, for the past 3 years we've gone and cut down a tree to decorate for the Christmas season. In 2008, the first year Aaron and I were married, we were in the U.P. before Christmas, and I got to do the honors of cutting down the tree! I felt like my Yooper status was more solidified after that experience! :)



Last year, 2009, I was as big as a house... about to give birth to Micah... so my cutting down our tree really wasn't an option. We went to Richardson's and Aaron did the honors. I don't have any pictures of the tree being cut down, but I do have one of our little family in front of the tree (about a minute before all the decorations were taken down and put away... by my wonderful husband and brother and his girlfriend, Julie... while I put our newborn baby to bed)


And this year, on a beautiful snowy Sunday, we went to a place in Burlington, WI to get our tree. I felt a little bit like Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation as it took us quite a while to get to this place, and I was starting to wonder where Tracy and Eric were taking us! :) We got there eventually, and had a lot of fun picking out our Christmas tree with Micah riding on his new sled from Uncle Eric and Aunt Tracy.

Micah and Emma in the snow ~

The lens must have gotten a little wet for this picture... but that blur is Aaron, showing Micah how to cut down a Christmas tree

Playing with Uncle Eric in the snow

I love the looks on Micah's face in these next few pictures!

Our family with our Christmas tree ~

And the finished, decorated product... we decided to put it up on our coffee table in an effort to keep Micah from getting to it. So far, that has proved unsuccessful as he is one determined little guy! Thankfully, he hasn't pulled it over on himself, or managed to pull anything off... but the Christmas season isn't over yet! We've only had 3 ornaments broken so far... and I blame Aaron and me for those casualties, since we gave Micah the ornaments to play with, thinking they were "safe" and wouldn't break easily. Ha! Never underestimate "hurricane Micah"! :)


But aside from working overtime trying to keep Micah away from the tree, I think our house looks pretty festive. We won't be home on Christmas this year, as it's our year to be with Aaron's family in the U.P., so we kept it pretty simple. We thought about not even getting a tree, but because it's Micah first Christmas, we decided the tree was a must! And what a fun family tradition to include our son in!