O Christmas Tree!

We finally got our Christmas tree up this past weekend and I finally finished decorating it last night.  As you can see, we opted for a real Christmas tree this year.  Malu and Sina picked it out themselves while I worked late last Friday evening.  He swears it was the best one at the store (he bought it at OBI, which is the German version of Home Depot) and honestly, even though it's not as perfectly symmetrical, or as thick and plush as I would like, it has tons of character and we love it.

Honestly, this is the first real tree I've had since the late 80s.  The last real one we had was when my family was stationed in Brooklyn, NY (Fort Hamilton).  I think the reason my mom stopped getting real trees was because I became allergic to them.  And it appears that I still am.  I think Malu thinks it's all psychosomatic, but as I sit here typing in our bedroom, I can smell the essence of pine and I feel an itch in my throat and on my face.  Even my lips feel hot and swollen.  Putting decorations and lights on weren't without difficulty.  Itch, itch, itch.  As much as we like it, I think we're going back to a fake (preferably, prelit) tree next year.

I usually like to load a Christmas tree with lights and make it full with bows and other ornaments.  I've found that you can't really do that with a real tree.  It really gets weighted down and doesn't look as aesthetically pleasing.  I pretty much had to re-do the lights and use a lot less.

Oh well, Sina loves it.  She stares at is and exclaims, "oooh!" and "ball" (round ornaments) and is so fascinated with the lights.  I was afraid to lay out too many presents for fear that she'd mess with them, but she hasn't yet.  Thank goodness for that.

It's lookin' to be a great Christmas for us, you guys, especially since we got our first snowfall today. Didn't stick, but it's a start!

Happy Tuesday to All!

P.S.  Sina is 16 months old today!