First order of business: I made waffles for dinner tonight. Breakfast for dinner makes me ridiculously happy. Waffles anytime!

But we can talk more about waffles another time.

I realize that I’ve been belaboring my pup’s recent surgery and you’re probably tired of hearing about it… I only bring it up now because I want you to remember that Seth and I are basically confined to the house with her until she is healed up enough to have her stitches out. Too much risk of her moving around and popping something important if we’re not keeping a watchful eye on her. (Thank goodness Seth works from home– it has made this whole ordeal much, much easier than it would have been otherwise! I am grateful every day for his excellent job! And his boss is kind of cool, too…)

So because we were home bound with Curly this weekend my exceptionally generous sister-in-law, Sister Doctor, and her husband (on his birthday, no less!) went and picked out a Christmas tree for us! How awesome is that?!  They delivered a beautiful fresh cut Fraser Fir from Seth’s uncle’s tree farm on Sunday afternoon and Seth and I spent the evening setting it up and decorating as Curly looked on from her kennel.

Setting up that Christmas tree reminded me of so many things about Christmas past and made me think ahead to the many, many Christmas’s Seth, Curly, and I have in our collective future. And it was interesting to think about all of the holiday traditions Seth and I celebrated with our own families growing up and how we’ve merged those things into something completely unique for our own bitty nuclear family.

When I was little, we always had a beautiful gold and silver star with a bright white bulb at its center topping the tree and the first year Seth and I got a Christmas tree together I was certain that I wanted to find our own perfect star. But Seth’s family always topped their tree with an angel, and that’s what he preferred. I remember my mind being absolutely boggled at the thought of having an angel atop the tree– I’ve never liked the look of overly realistic angels. I mean… a star!! Personal preference, I suppose, but I was stuck. Until I found this angel:

A plain, bright bulb for a head and a simple design. Much like the star I enjoyed growing up, while providing Seth with the angel he always wanted atop his tree. Perfect compromise. Isn’t it lovely???

Same with the lights. Seth’s family always had tiny ones, we always had big round bulbs. What to do, what to do? Compromise once again! We got some mid-size LEDs, just bigger than the minis Seth was used to and the same shape and colors as the bulbs I’ve always loved.

Together with the Christmas tree stand handmade by Seth’s grandpa (it’s a hand-welded sleigh!!), the tree skirt latch hooked by Seth’s mom (lovely little holly berries!), the mounds and mounds of tinsel inspired by my dad (seriously… LOVE tinsel!!), and the multitude of ornaments handpicked by Seth and I on special vacations and gifted to us throughout the years (new house, engagement, wedding, honeymoon in Hawaii (Mele Kalikimaka!), Seth learns to surf, Rachel learns to wakeboard…) we have our very own perfect tree.

I see it as a subtle reminder of our Christmases past, a beautiful symbol of this Christmas present, and a harbinger of Christmases yet to come… each one sparkling, pine-scented, and joy-filled.