and so it begins.

so i'm a christmas tree snob.

there, i said it. i like fancy christmas trees. white lights, pretty ribbon, red berries, sparkly ornaments that match. and i like my wrapping paper to match my tree, with fancy ribbon and big bows that i enjoy making myself. i'm not shy about admitting this.

charles and i are very lucky to have 2 trees in our house each year because we get them for free, chopping them down from our friends' property (thank you marty & denise!) who will need to cut them down anyway to build someday. one of them is 12 feet tall. yes, that's right, 12 feet. (how spoiled are we?) and they are adorned with lots of white lights, sparkling gold, red and amber ornaments, silk ribbon, and all kinds of pretty things we've acquired over the time we've been together. they are my happy place this time of year. my friends even affectionately poke fun at me for my trees. janna recently texted me, "i need to make an appointment with you to see your trees."

i recall the christmas trees we had when i was a child. multi-colored lights. macrame ornaments of varying colors and shapes made by my grandmother. shapes that never made sense to me or even looked like christmas. beaded ornaments with cheesy pictures of me and my brother glued in the center. then there were the lovely decorations my brother and i made at school. those red and green construction paper structures with visible dried glue globs and random glitter in places that made no sense for glitter to reside. terrible silver garland wrapped around the tree as if it was attempting to strangle the last bit of life from the already-tortured shrub. don't even get me started on what was our tree topper.

i vowed i would NEVER have a tree like this in my house.

i'm a christmas tree snob after all.

.............until now.

on wednesday, elsie came home with this adorable little bag she'd decorated at school as one of her holiday projects. very cute, and she was very proud of it. "look!" so i opened the bag and inside were a few surprises for us. the first was one of her letters (she's learning to write letters by tracing lines on large pages pre-printed with the lower case letter. she's getting pretty good, too.) another construction paper cutout decorated with glued-on things. and then there it was.

a snowman. white construction paper cut in the shape of a snowman, then glued to a......... tongue depressor! (gasp!) cotton had been pulled apart and glued to his body representing the snow. a yarn scarf, brown construction paper hat, GOOGLY eyes and even a carrot nose completed the little guy. "oh, elsie, he's adorable! good job!"

and then it happened. charles said to me, "it should go on the tree."

what?!? you must be joking. that tree? our beautiful christmas tree? um, i think not.

i lost. the snowman won without even trying. he was resting on a branch before i could even form words....

turns out, i love him. so it begins. the building of our new christmas tree, which will take years to complete and which will likely repulse my daughter when she's 15, swearing she'll never have a tree like this in her house. ever.

we'll see about that.