Double Tree (Not the Hotel)

Saturday after Thanksgiving we went and rang bells outside one of our local grocery stores for the Salvation Army. Oscar is a pretty good sport about standing in the cold for an hour, especially if people let him put their money into the pot. It is hard to keep him focused since our grocery store has all their toys for Christmas displayed right inside the sliding doors. He likes to sing Jingle Bells over and over which can get a little tiring, but we had a good time and we hope to pass on the importance of community service to him. 

After ringing bells we were off to go Christmas tree hunting. With Oscar's birthday party coming up, we did not have the time this year to do the big Christmas tree hunt with all our friends. However, we did get to go Christmas tree hunting with the Gothams and have some sledding, hot chocolate fun. Unfortunately we did not find a tree with the Gothams, so we had to venture on in search for a tree. After walking all around Phelps Canyon, I found a great tree. I had to do a little convincing, but finally Chris saw that it was wonderful- a double tree! Chris says it is a Siamese tree, but whatever you want to call it, it is a tree that has one base, but two trunks. Our permit is for one tree, but we only cut through one base, so I say that counts. A few days later we put the tree up and began our annual holiday tradition of listening to Christmas music while decorating the tree together. What always starts off as a Bing Crosby moment soon turns into me telling Chris he is not putting on the lights correctly for the 8th year in a row, him getting to the top, running out of lights, and starting over. Once the lights are on, the decorating goes much smoothly as long as you do not count Chris remarking about the number of ornaments we have twenty or thirty times through the process. I love our "traditions" of having the same conversations every year while decorating the tree. 

Just a portion of our many ornaments.

These lights have been used for 7 or 8 years, but come out of the original box each year.
Chris has some serious OCD issues. 

Double Tree!

So pretty!

My mom gave my this LED snowman who is keeping me company
at work this winter. 

Learning to Skate

Snow King Resort in town is having three free learn to skate lessons in December and January for local kids. One of their classes is three and four year olds, and since there was not much else to do because of the lack of snow, we took Oscar. The teachers are on the figure skating team, and are very patient and wonderful with the kids. Oscar had a great time learning to skate and will be going back this Saturday for his second lesson. If he seems interested, we are thinking of putting him in lessons, maybe he is the future Wayne Gretzky.

Note: I have a video, but for some reason it is not uploading. I will keep trying and hopefully it will be up soon.