Countdown to Christmas: Real or Fake?!

I'm talking about a Christmas tree here people so stay focused please! :-) 















We go the "real" tree route.  This will be our second Christmas in the new house and I just love decorating for the holidays.   The tree and all of my decorations make our house so cozy and warm.  I love the feeling.  Sometimes I feel like I should just leave it up all year round.......but then I would be a Wisconsin redneck cliche and well I just don't like stereotypes!  :-)  Anyway, Scott and I went to pick out our Christmas tree last weekend.  It's tradition to set up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving at my in-laws house.  Scott insisted we start making this a tradition at our house too.  So the Saturday after Thanksgiving we did just that.  We drove over to a local tree farm and picked out the most perfect tree we could find. 

I looked through last years pictures and they are almost identical to this years.  And since I probably didn't even bother to blog about it here are the pictures from last year:

 I just love the experience of picking out a tree from a nursery rather than any big box stores.  Sure it's a bit more pricey but its all about the memories to me and I'll pay extra for that any day! 



 Scott is very serious about what tree we bring home! 

We borrow Scott's parents SUV to get the tree home.  We call it the family "truckster".  It fits nice and snug: 



This is when it starts looking like "Thanksmas" at our house.  Note the pumpkin on the front porch:

 

Yay for our FIRST real Christmas tree: 

 All ready to decorate:

 

NOW FOR THIS YEAR'S TREE!

This time we have another family member joining in on all the fun!

 (Just ignore that couch in the background.  It's not permanent!)

 We borrowed the family "truckster" again: 

and drove the scenic route to the nursery:



the same nursery as last year:



2hotty got to work pickin out "THE ONE":



And when we found it, these wonderful young gents wrapped it all neat and tightly for us.

 It was fun to watch:



 And one even carried it out to the truck for us.  Now that's what I call service:

 

  

Bringing it home. 
Again, we transition from Thanksgiving decor to Christmas decor.  This time we have more than just one lonely pumpkin on the front porch!

Yay for tree numero dos:

This time we had a little "elf" helping us:

well only with lots and lots of hugs and kisses:

Surprisingly she doesn't go near the tree.  I was expecting the worst.  It gives me hope that we won't have a million pieces of shattered ornaments on the floor for me to clean up. Oh please Baby Jesus I'm prayin she stays far far away from it.  Am I setting myself up for failure?!?!  She is definitely on the naughty list with everything else in the house.  The couch.....the carpet.....yup she chewed it!!
  I'm sure Santa will be skipping our house this year because of one naughty little puppy!  But she is just too darn cute!

 So what's yours.....Real or Fake?!?!  :-)

Have a wonderful weekend my friends. 
I know mine will be consumed with holiday decorating and shopping. 

xoxo Joanna D.