No Ordinary Sparrow: Tis' The Season

I wanted to share a little glimpse of what Christmas looks like at our house.

We've broken out our Christmas mugs,

and gotten out the ornaments.

We've got the Christmas music playing on the radio and the nativity has been unpacked.

We have unpacked all of our decorations.

Here is one of our treasures. This is Hunky Hubby's stocking from his childhood. His mother commisioned this stocking to be made for him and I believe there is one similar to it for his brother and sister. I can't imagine the hours it took to hand bead this entire stocking. It's full of ornate images of trains, fish, ducks, blocks, and more. I really need to find a way to preserve this family heirloom. I think a shadow box may be in order.

As a part of our family tradition we usually go and pick out our tree shortly after Thanksgiving. Living on 12 mostly forested acres, we have the privilege of choosing a tree off our property. Usually we have to take the top of a mature tree seeing as how we don't live on a tree farm or anything. Incidentally, I believe that Wisconsin is the largest Christmas tree grower in the nation. My one request for our tree this year was that it be tall and skinny. I think I got what I wanted.

Hunky Hubby always gets the job of putting the lights on the tree. It's his honor really.

I'm sure that's how he views it.

We decorate the tree while sipping on a mug of hot apple cider. This is a tradition we have started in the last couple of years thanks to our good friends

the Cooks whom we press cider with in the fall.

We keep it in the freezer, always saving a gallon just for tree decorating day. It adds the perfect smell and flavor to this part of our holiday.

The kids get so excited about decorating the tree. I love watching them. I really tried hard to relax about the process this year and let the boys take the lead on putting the decorations on. However, it's really hard to relax when they are scrambling up and down a 8 foot ladder with fragile ornaments in their hands.

This year,the newest members of our family,

Bleu and Chipper, had to join in our festivities as well.

It seems that they gave their stamp of approval to our tree.

Each family has their own traditions, and we love ours. They are part of what make our holidays so special. The anticipation of the expected. The opportunity to repeat something that only takes place once a year. Traditions pull us together and keep us focused on family during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Oh, and when it comes to the holidays, flexibility and ingenuity are a necessity. Like when you need to hang the candy canes high up on the tree, but the 8 foot ladder has been put away. You do what you need to do.