O Christmas Tree!

On Sunday, Frank and I went with my family to buy Christmas trees out by their house.

Then we let ours hang out on the car roof while we decorated theirs. We set it up when we got home Sunday, and finally got it all decked out last night.

What is it about Christmas trees? Why are they so pretty? I said to Frank as we were wrapping lights, "Lighting Christmas trees in houses has to be one of the best traditions people ever invented."

I could sit and stare at our little tree all day. My favorite place to look is from the far end of the couch, where I have a direct view of some pretty ornaments Lillian and Matt gave us while they were here for Thanksgiving, and of Frank's favorite ornament that he found at World Market:

His name is Macduff, and Frank someday hopes to have a real-life version with the same name, and a twin for him named Macbeth. Someday.

We have a smaller, fake tree on the other side of the couch which I named Edwin last year. Frank requested a Scandinavian name for the big tree to match. After trying out a few—Siegfried, Lavrans, Bjorgulf—we finally settled on Kirsten, a tribute to our favorite Swede and my favorite Norwegian heroine.

This morning I got up early to make Frank's favorite blueberry scones in honor of St. Nicholas' Day. While the scones were baking, I sat on my favorite end of the couch, cup of juice in hand, and sipped slowly while looking at our tree. Christmastime just makes me so happy, you know?