We got our tree this weekend. It was different when I was growing up. We got our tree much later in the month when I was a little kid. It's a funny thing about being a grown up and learning you can change things. Make things different.

Somewhere along the way Neel and I decided to put the tree up early in the month. Not Thanksgiving weekend, but the weekend after. One year, on that same weekend, Lucy-the-Beagle came home. That was a bonus for Callum. Christmas tree and a beagle! When we lived in Pennsylvania we were able to get a few cut-your-own, and in California trees were SO expensive. Here we've been to the same nursery for the last four years. Eggleston Garden Center just feels like a good place to get our tree. Every year the people are so nice. Just really lovely. And we scooped up a bonus camellia this time around too. This year they're sponsoring a $50 gift card as a prize for the best decorated tree. Neel is pushing me to enter!

It was just cold enough to feel festive. Not cold enough for foot stomping. You'll likely see Neel like this a lot from here on out though. His head gets cold.

Back home that night it was late, and our sweet tree (Neel and Callum finally caught on that I claim it our "best tree ever" every year.) sat and patiently waited for us through the next day. I love this shot of it from the kitchen and through the dining room. Waiting.

Getting the star on top was a near thing. Neel insisted that Callum could climb on his shoulders. That was all well and good, but once Neel got on the stepstool, Callum got nervous.

We got it done.

The lights are lit and the decorations are on. Not much else is done. I'm trying to get to the rest of the house this week, but it just hasn't happened yet. I looks sweet from outside, though doesn't it? I think it's our best tree ever.