A most UnUsual Christmas thus far

Well 1/2 of my finals are finished! This is a great relief to me, the hardest final is out of the way. The other one while, I know will be difficult, does not have me in knots the way the essay one did.

So with that relief in my mind I thought I would tell you a bit about whats going on in my life besides Finals at school.

My other half is away for the first time in our history together, he wont be here for Christmas. This has taken some real getting used to. He will be home a few days later.  So to attempt to have some of the same traditions that have become so dear to our family we started early! Never in my life have we gone the day after Thanksgiving to get our Christmas tree but it was the only weekend we had the chance to do it where my mate would be able to join us.  We have made a tradition of going and cutting down our own tree at a sustainable natural growing Christmas tree farm. We have gone to the same one for 5 years now, Mountain View Christmas tree farm has beautiful trees and a wonderful fire pit to warm yourself by after you hike their 6 acre farm. Since we are staying with friends they joined us and we had a blast searching high and low for our 7 1/2 foot Douglas Fir tree.

going up the hill first to search for our tree

No matter how big they get, they still want dad's warmth

The whole gang together, that is an antique sleigh!

The Tree got dressed up in all sorts of home made finery. The tree has the theme of family this year. We have family ornaments from both families.

A few short days later we had to take the Mr to the Airport. He is gone doing some training for the Marine Corps and we miss him lots. We did take the opportunity to take a family photo together the morning we were leaving.

I love this photo for many reasons, but mostly because its just us loving each other a little.

That Dashing Marine is mine, those are our 4 beautiful kids who we are blessed to have. Maybe tomorrow I will get to share some craftiness with all of you.