The Christmas Tree

Every year we pick a weekend in early December to meet Jay's parents and the Santivanez crew at a Christmas Tree lot off of Lower Roswell.  We all meet, pick out our trees and then head home.  We usually meet up the next weekend at Jay's parent's house to decorate the crazy big tree that Bebe buys.  After we decorate we cook raclette.  Think fondue meets the George Foreman grill.  It's one of several Christmas traditions that I always look forward to.

Sherridan and I with our babies.  I was happy that I could walk around the lot this year.  Last year I had to sit in the car since I was on bed rest.  At the time I didn't see much difference between sitting in bed and sitting in the car.  

"My" two children.  Poor Holland.  Since I don't have a girl she has to put up with me pretending that she's mine.

John Henry enjoyed walking through the lot.  He's still not walking on his own but he can get around really well if you loan him your fingers.

Catching a ride on Bebe's shoulders.  Talk about a spoiled kid.

John Henry and Holland were having a great time together.  I'm sure you're wondering where Sherridan's three older children are.  During the entire tree picking process they play hide and seek in the lot.  They treat the lot as their own personal hiding/maze area.  It's actually a pretty cool area to do it and after they finish they are exhausted.  I promise you they don't stop running the entire time we are there.

The next weekend John Henry helped decorate his first Christmas tree.  John Henry got to practice on our tree before heading over to the big tree at Jay's parent's house.  He liked the ornaments but couldn't understand why I kept taking them out of his hands and putting them on the tree.  

Daddy and John Henry working on the last ornaments.

Pick a pretty one John Henry!

Helping Mommy put the finishing touches on our tree.  This year our tree had to go in our sunken sunroom.  John Henry hasn't managed to get into this room so it was the perfect place for a tree with breakable ornaments.  Next year we're going to have to put a fence around our tree.  

The next day we headed over to Bebe and Cece's house to decorate the big tree.  John Henry loves being around his cousins and they are all so good to him.  Sumner got him started off right by showing him how to pick an ornament and then put it on the tree.

Holland had her own ladder to use for the ornaments.  Here she is showing me her "cheese" face.  For some reason she thinks that means she needs to close her eyes when she smiles...

The tree that Bebe buys is always the biggest.  It's inevitable that Cece will tell him that it's too big and they don't need such a big tree anymore.  Bebe will always respond with the fact that it's smaller than last year.  I've seen pictures of their old trees.  They were bigger but not by a lot.

Here is Henry leaning through the second floor banister to decorate the top of the tree.

You really do need multiple ladders to get the job done.  This year the kids did a good job helping decorate the tree.  Normally they start strong but bail 5 minutes into it.  Which means Jay and Sherridan have to finish up the tree. 

Poor Jay always ends up having to fill in the empty spots on the tree.  

Holland and Sumner singing Christmas songs.

I don't have any pictures of the raclette dinner.  Trust me when I say there isn't any room on the table for a camera.  Google raclette and you'll see that it's a portable grill that you cook the meat and veggies on top and the cheese on the bottom.  We always cook shrimp, chicken, and steak.  We have a ton of cheese that we melt and pour on the meat, bread and potatoes that are served on the side.  It's delicious and the kids have so much fun cooking their own dinner.  I can't wait to do it again next year.