My parent's Christmas tree

Ever since I can remember we have put up my parent's Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving. It started out as a way to help my mom because she would be out of the house at 4 am wrestling and elbowing women for the latest Cabbage Patch doll or IOU sweatshirt my sister and I were begging for that year. So my sister and I would drag up the 30 boxes (I might be exaggerating, but only by a few!) of Christmas decorations and start setting them all up in the house. By the time my mom would return in the late afternoon the house would be almost ready for Christmas, except the tree.

My sister and I would assemble and set-up the tree, which is no small feat, believe me. The tree is 9 foot tall and has all individual branches that need to be shaped and inserted into the tree. We would wait for my mom to come home and she would put the lights and garland on the tree and then all four of us would put the ornaments on as a family.

Their tree is not one of those fussy, theme trees with no character. Each ornament on their tree has its own story to tell and we tell these same stories every year. The stories are mostly funny especially the terrible handmade ornaments and old embarrassing photos. We can remember where every ornament was bought or vacation it was from or who gave it to us. It's a stroll down memory lane every year. It is honestly one of my favorite parts of Christmas; it's the kick-off in a sense. It is even more fun now that I am married and Michael gets to take part and Arla has Teddy to take part as well. I can't wait until we have kids to take part in this long-standing family tradition.

Here are some pictures of the Ebeling family tree for 2009.

 

My parents go all out on the outside of the house as well. My dad is an expert in exterior lumination!! Here's a view of the outside. We had the grand unveiling last night!

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