I don't remember too much from my childhood beyond 5 years old. But, there are a few memories that are so vivid that I can still see, taste and feel everything about those moments. Almost everyone of these memories has to do with Christmas. I can remember waking up before the morning light had started to pour into the windows and would see the Christmas tree all lit up. Each and every light seemed to have it's own gorgeous burst of light, brighter than before. The whole room lit up with such a beautiful glow that shown upon the presents and reflected onto the hardwood floors. One year my mother and I decided to go get a tree on our own. We are notorious for being a bit dense when we get together since we tend to giggle way too much to focus on the task at hand. We ended up tying the tree through the windows...which meant that we could no longer open the doors to our car. We laughed until we cried and then proceeded to shove each other into the car via the windows. Brilliance. And one ritual we have is playing the piano together. My mother can play the piano like nobody's business and we would sing Christmas carols or at least try. I would ruin the jam session by singing especially bad or taking a crack at the piano and playing desperately slow rendition of silent night. Our laughter would fill the house until my dad would walk into the room and tell us to be quiet.
I find that as I get older and no longer live close to home the preparation for Christmas has become incredibly important to me. It isn't easy trying to do Christmas like my mother did and it doesn't feel the same without my family close by. Luckily I do have Eddie, my sweet little dog Lucy and best friend Heidi. We set out to our favorite Christmas tree lot at Sleighbells and had a blast. The smell of pine immediately brought back so many memories.

When we would find the perfect tree, my mom would hold out her hands and sing, "Ahhhhh" in her best opera voice. We found our tree and did just the same. Heidi loves to be in charge of the tough stuff so we obliged by letting her do some of the work.



Eddie throwing me a crushing smile while getting a little dirty.



Lucy has to be the weirdest dog on the planet. She can be all dog 1/2 of the time and all human the next. I love these two pictures because it explains the half and half scenario. I threw her ball into a tree and she proceeded to find it on her own. She is very independent.



I love these glass ornaments that fit onto the little twinkle lights. My mom has been collecting these for years.



Sleighbells has beautiful trees and an insane gift shop full of ornaments and decorations. We highly recommend it...we also recommend going on a weekday...it's very busy otherwise.