A Christmas of Firsts

We didn't start this Christmas season trying to go the tradition busting route. We did make a decision early on in the holiday season to spend Thanksgiving at our own home instead of on the road as we expected Christmas to be the typical rush around between car trips holiday. Little did we know that a major storm would cause us to spend Christmas at our Fergus Falls home as well.

Perhaps it was our decision to throw out our 15 year old plastic Christmas tree purchased from a bankruptcy sale when Best went out of business that tripped all of the change this season. Last Christmas our cat decided to climb the wobbly tree to the very top causing the tree to crash to the ground and years of collected ornaments to smash to smithereens. This year we traveled to Parkers Prairie and purchased our first *real* tree. The experience was amazing and turned into a nearly all day event. We roasted hot dogs by a campfire, took a horse sleigh ride and enjoyed being outdoors on a fabulously sunny winter day. We found the perfect tree. Perfect.

The kids hid under the dining table and studied their father as he drug in the tree, tried to set it up only to find that it was one foot to tall, then drag the tree back outside to cut it down. I love nothing more than opening each little box of ornaments and discussing who gave it to us, or where we were when we purchased it. What a joyous thing to share with a child. I don't see us ever going back to a plastic tree. I could care less about the needles on the ground. The smell made it all worthwhile.

As you know, a nasty storm hit the Midwest over Christmas. Nearly ever major road in North Dakota and Minnesota was closed. We spent the holiday at our house hunkered down. We did our best to make the holiday special for our newest niece and cooked up a big Christmas Eve meal. It was not a traditional Christmas, but a great one.