A Christmas Tradition

Cable Knit Sweater, also love this one and this one | Skinny Jeans | Nordic Boots (sold out), also love this pair and this pair

When it comes to Christmas, do you have any special traditions to kick off the season? For me, picking out and decorating our Christmas tree is the ritual that kicks off the holiday season and I imagine that’s the same for a lot of people. I’m not sure that makes it a “tradition” per se, but I’m going to call it that for now!

We don’t do anything particularly special like go to a Christmas tree farm and cut down or own tree. Instead, we find a spot in the city, ask (yet again) which type of tree smells the best (it’s Balsam if you’re wondering!) and pick one that’s not too small and not too big. The whole process only takes us about an hour, but I absolutely love it.

Two weekends back, we went to a local church to pick up our Christmas tree. The year before we got one at Whole Foods, but since the trees were sitting in their parking garage, it smelled more like exhaust for the first week. I won’t make that mistake again! I’m a firm believer in waiting until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas, but that first week of December, we went straight to get our tree!

As soon as we pulled up and opened the door, the amazing smell of pine trees overwhelmed me and I couldn’t help but smile. Is it just me, or is this smell one of the best in the world?! Instantly, I’m transported back to memories from my childhood. We would always make up games and play with the Christmas decor my mom had set out, sneak red and green M&M’s from the crystal bowl in the entryway and look forward to opening our advent calendar every morning. When you’re a kid, the build up to Christmas is so much fun.

Cable Knit Sweaters

You’re not stressed about buying gifts, shopping our prepping your house for guests. Instead, you’re busy crafting your list for Santa and actually doing your chores, just to make extra sure that you’re on that nice list! Our free-time was spent guessing what’s wrapped in presents, playing with neighborhood kids and siblings, decorating and eating too many cookies and wondering if you’ll be able to hear the reindeer clicking on your roof come Christmas Eve. The whole season seems to last so much longer too! With Owen here, I look forward to all those moments for him because I remember just how special they were for me and my sisters!

As an adult, it’s still such an amazing time of year, but in such a different way. I find that I worry less and spend more time focusing on what’s important like spending time with my family. This year I’ve been trying to pause and really live in the present moment and soak up this holiday season as our first as a family of three. We have so much to be thankful for and sometimes I find that I actually get really emotional about it, haha! I suppose my hormones are still a little crazy, or maybe I’m just getting extra sappy now that I’m a mama.

Winter Boots

 
The day we picked out our tree was surprisingly warm for December—I didn’t even need a coat. I wore this cable knit sweater, skinny jeans, these winter boots (that just sold out—I linked a few similar pairs above!). Since the whole Christmas tree “farm” was only about the size of a small parking lot, we opted to just carry Owen around instead of pulling out the stroller. Naturally, he slept through the whole thing! We ran into Kelly and Mitch while we were there and they snapped a few sweet family photos for us—thanks Kelly!

We got the tree home and set up and our whole house smells amazing! Every morning when I walk down the stairs, I’m greeted by the cozy smell of balsam fir and I can’t help but smile—even if I’ve only had a few hours of sleep!

Do you have any Christmas traditions? Does your family do real trees or fake?!

BTW, DIY gingerbread scrub, and gifts for your guy.