(gen says...) backtracking: a christmas post

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From Gen:

"I have finally caught my breath from a crazy holiday season and wanted to share a few photos from our "Cabin Christmas" in Nashville!

Christmas Dinner: This year for our family Christmas dinner, I set the table with little christmas treats for everyone! I am just in love with these Jonathan Adler Christmas ornaments- the turquoise box is adorable and adds the perfect hit of color to our red dot paper table cloth...from Ikea.

Family Photo: Ready for the holiday festivities to begin! I am a huge fan of anything vintage! I found this amazing Jade Green Silk Dress last year at a thrift store and finally had it altered-just in time for the holiday party season! Benjamin's bow tie and pocket square are thrift store treasures as well.

Christmas Tree: Our Christmas Tree is filled with vintage treasures and hand made ornaments created by our kids..I just love the eclectic feel of old meets new!

Gift details: I love wrapping christmas gifts...unfortunately I am always in a last minute rush to finish. To save time and find the best bargains...I usually stock up on my favorite wrapping paper, ribbon, and gift tags at the end of the christmas season. This year I stock piled "loads" of this Red and White dot paper from Ikea! I am just in love with this pattern!

Vintage Santa: My favorite new Christmas decoration- picked up at a thrift store for $20.

Christmas morning breakfast tradition: Every year my husband makes the yummiest Eggs Benedict for Christmas breakfast! Yes..those fabulous red napkins are also from Ikea!

Oden playing legos: My mother's christmas tradition was to give my brother and I new Christmas jammies each year on Christmas eve. This year I carried on the tradition for Oden with these darling green and red stripe PJ's from Hanna Andersson.

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season!!!! -Gen"

and on to another tree

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I'm back - for now. Looks like we may have to move into my in-law's house for 1-2 months while the tree damage gets repaired. We just finished renovating the house a year ago, so we are not looking forward to more 'renovations.' But we continue to focus on the fact that no one was hurt.

Of course, the last ornament on our Christmas tree had just been hung days before the tree fell. I'm still glad we got one, and I still turn on the lights every night.

We (or at least, I) love the process of finding just the right tree and bringing it home. This season was made all the more sweet with our little one in tow.

We always buy our tree from the Boy Scouts (for those in Nashville: they're on the corner of Post and Davidson roads). The prices are slightly higher, but the customer service and the overall 'experience' far outweigh the slightly inflated prices...besides- you are helping out a good cause.

When you first arrive, a Boy Scout is assigned to you. He guides you through the process, and will explain the differences between all the trees. Jeremy (our Scout) told us the difference between the Douglas, Scotch, White and Frasier Fir pine trees (among others). One has long, soft needles (White), but the needles fall off quicker. One has the most appealing shape (Scotch), but is a little more prickly. Another has a more tangerine scent (Frasier)...and so on, and so forth. Such a Big decision to make.

We ultimately went with a beautiful Scottish tree, which I only regretted when I put on the lights (the prickly branches really hurt!). But it is beautiful.

Jeremy took our tree to the tent, where they cut off the low-lying branches and put on our stand (if you take your stand when you buy the tree, they will put it on and 'balance' it for you). Jeremy asked us if we wanted a 'Charlie Brown' tree for Gram- which- of course, we did. So he created a little stump tree with a hole for a Frasier Fir branch. Adorable!

They loaded up our tree onto our big gas-guzzler (I promise, I'm a Prius driver at heart- maybe someday!), and off we went. The tree is now at home, nestled into the corner near our fireplace. The remote control my mom got for the Christmas lights comes in handy, particularly with a tree that is so prickly. How do you pick your tree?

On a side note: thank you for all of the sweet comments while I was gone. I read each and every one of them, and really appreciate it.