Christmas Tree Run (a family tradition)

Soon after Dale and I got married (September of 2001), it became important to me to start some of our own traditions.  You see, when you get married you find out that each of us came with 20+ years of memories and traditions....and sometimes they conflict!  Thankfully, we have been able to keep everyone happy by incorporating each of our family traditions and begin a few of our own.

Our annual Christmas Tree Run wasn't really an intentional tradition at first (meaning, I wasn't initially on board with the idea).  Typically I grew up with a fake tree or a nice tree from a tree lot. I had never been on a "Christmas Tree Hunt" before and I wasn't sure I was crazy about it.  "Why?" you may be asking.....well, we started going when Isaac was one year old (2003).  He had fun at first, but he got cold and wet and although we brought a change of clothes for him, he never really got warm and enjoyed the adventure.  Then we had Levi (2004), and then Micah (2006), and we were hunting around for a Christmas tree with little ones was more of the same.  Cold, wet, tired and miserable after the first hour.

And then there was the teasing we got from my dad.  He wasn't impressed at all with our sparse, organic tree!  He would mock our tree which made the hunt for the perfect tree even longer.  You see, my husband has a competitive side....like seriously competitive.  And he was going to show Bob that he could have a beautiful tree.  So the hunt began to take longer, and longer, and did I mention longer? for the perfect tree that would redeem this little tradition of ours.

But kids got older, and we always had friends that we invited to come.  So now they had friends to play in the snow with.  I started taking hot cocoa and eventually we started having a bonfire.  Wow, what a difference a few years makes!  This little tradition was growing on me and we added a few things to make it even more special:

• We started taking our Christmas card picture up in the mountains with our tree every year.

Christmas 2014

• I would have to get a new hat for this yearly picture (how fun is that?).
• We started going toward Naches and always stop at Shari's in Yakima on the way home.
• I purchase a frame ornament with the year on it from Hallmark each year.  So our tree is filled with memories of Christmas' past.

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2013

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2003

Christmas 2014

• We usually have a slew of boys (a lot of our friends have boys) that go with us.  

What a crew! 2014

2013

2012

A few years back I asked Dale what his favorite Christmas tradition was.  And this was his answer....the annual Christmas Tree Run.  It always meant a lot to him and although the early years were semi miserable for me, I am so glad we kept it up!

Playing together with family always brings good memories!

And Bob has been very complimentary about our tree!

Micah (with Dad's help) putting on the star.

The moral of this little story for me is, sometimes being the only female in a house full of males, I have to put on my "man boots" (as my dad would say) and go with the flow.  In this case I am so glad I endured the hard years of this tradition.  Now we have so many memories like:  the year we got stuck in the snow, the year we saw the big horn sheep grazing, the year we had that really great sledding spot, and etc.  Traditions should be meaningful, and this one truly is!

God Bless You and may you have a very Merry Christmas from the Thompson Family!

Getting Settled

Well....we made it!  All moved in just in time for Thanksgiving.  We had a lovely time with family and we also celebrated Levi's 10th birthday (which fell on Thanksgiving Day this year).  We are starting to settle in and enjoy "living" in our new home.

Recently I started counting the places I have lived and the number of times I have moved.  Basically I have moved 8 times in my life and lived in 6 places (4 houses and 2 apartments).  I have found that I really don't care for moving.  I am not an organized person by nature...I have misplaced things mostly due to being in a hurry, not knowing where something should go and stuffing it somewhere which I quickly forget.  Yes, I am typically the one to blame for most of my own frustrations in life.  Admitting you have a problem is the first step....and if I could ever get off the first step maybe I would find out what the second step is!

This already "feels" like home.  I can't even explain how or why....maybe because this is the place I grew up, maybe because this is the Lord's plan.  All I know is that I have never felt more "at home" than I do here.  We are far from finished with everything we have to do.  I think that will go on for a long time, but we are settling in and getting comfortable in our new/old place.

Starting to get the house decorated has been a fun adventure!  A sweet friend of mine has offered much time both shopping with me and counseling me on "defining my style".  Anyone that really knows me can attest that I am not at all a detail oriented person (see paragraph 2 on organization).  I am a big picture girl who likes what she likes.  Sometimes with no rhyme or reason at all!  In studying up a little I have discovered that I am not "eclectic" (which surprised me), I am mostly "traditional" and a little "country" in my personal decorating taste.

There were about four things that I knew I wanted to do:

I have always wanted to have a wall decorated with beautiful plates.  I love china patterns of all sorts and this gave me a chance to have a variety of plates:

I love cattle!  I love watching cattle graze and I love a freezer full of beef!  Part of the year we get to feed them, and the rest of the year they get to feed us.  I wanted to decorate with a few pictures of cattle:

I wanted to find the perfect location for my Johannes Vermeer "Milkmaid" art work.  This picture has a spiritual connection for me that was based on a Bible study that I have done.  I call this my "Lifegiver" picture:

I wanted to put some history up for display.  I had a photo of what the house looked like when my parents purchased it in the 60's and another photo of the house from the 90's.  There is a lot of history here and I wanted to make sure that we always remember where we came from:

Meanwhile life goes on.  The boys love living with their grandparents right next door.  Grandma still has a better selection of goodies in the pantry than mom does.  And Grandpa is always up for a game of Uno.  Life is good and God is great!