Holidays are for spending time with family and celebrating with traditions. Iām with Jules at ALittleBiteOfLife.net and her letter Dear Retailers. The stores start putting up Christmas stuff in July or August. UGH! Even my favorite radio station converts to Christmas only music the week before Thanksgiving Week. Double UGH!
For me, Christmas starts after Thanksgiving is over. But before I get into some of our Christmas traditions, let me share with you a new Thanksgiving tradition we started this year.
My youngest sister Beth mailed us some paper leaves. She included a note with instructions to write what weāre thankful for this year and to sign and date it. We were then to mail them in an enclosed envelope to Mama. Beth had already mailed Mama hers with instructions that sheās supposed to hang the leaves on our new āThanksgiving Treeā. I LOVED the idea!!!
I had hoped to start it with my in-laws, but couldnāt find any leaf die-cuts to take with us to their house for Thanksgiving. I plan on doing this every year. It will be great to see the trees leaves each year.
One of our Christmas traditions is that each year we go buy our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving weekend. For many years weāve driven to the 75 acre Sleighbells Christmas Tree Farm and Giftshop in Sherwood, Oregon. This year was no exception. If youāre in the Portland area and have never been there. Itās worth the drive, here are their hours.
We choose to pick out our own tree and then have it cut down. We walked around a lot and finally found just the right one. Unlike many, we look for a tree that has a āholeā in it. We have a large glass Santa ornament that I like to stick inside the hole. We also choose a Grand Noble which has separation between the branch rows. That way you can see our ornaments.
Just as we found our tree, one of the tree cutters walked up and asked if we need help cutting it down. We said, āYep. Thanks!ā
Here you can see the guy cutting away (ours is the middle one)ā¦ see the hole in on the left towards the bottom?
Well, while he cut our tree down, we took some family pictures. The Offspring and Hubbyā¦
ā¦then The Offspring insisted I get in front of the camera for a changeā¦
See my furry scarfā¦ thatās hand-knittedā¦ (remember my post Semi-Lost Art and Homemade Gifts. The Offspring made that one for me.)
One thing I really like about Sleighbells is that at each location a tree is cut down, they plant a new treeā¦
When the guy was finished, he drug our tree to the road and a truck picked it up and they took it down to shake and bale it.
After he was done, we went down to the gift shop and bought some handmade fudge and looked at University of Oregon ornaments. Since
The Offspring was able to attend one of the Duck football games, she chose this oneā¦
Hubby got her this one, too.
When we got home, we cut the bottom off the tree because it didnāt have a straight cut. š This isnāt unusual, but the guy had told us theyād straighten it when it was baled. I guess they forgot. Since it wasnāt straight, we had to cut it more (NOT an easy task as our saw was DULL). We then immediately got it into water.
This year, their āshakingā didnāt get rid of as many of the loose needles as in the past. In fact, this was the worst year ever. Several branches had dried needles and it caused a lot to drop on the floor.
So I had a lot more to vacuum upā¦ Because of the dry needles within the tree, I actually decided to vacuum the tree itself! LOL!
Donāt believe me? Never heard of anyone vacuuming a treeā¦ well, The Offspring took these as proof! LOL!
Here is the first bit I ended up vacuuming up from the floor and from the tree! This isnāt all of it thoughā¦
ā¦ I had to empty it and then had two more with this much in itā¦
Thatās the worst weāve ever had. Admittedly, I was a disappointed, but we will likely go back next year because it is a tradition. Note to self, make sure to make sure theyāve shaken it really good and that the cut is straight.
Weāre waiting to put our ornaments on until The Offspring comes homes next week for Winter Break. Iāll have more photos to show you then.
What holiday traditions do you have?