The children convinced us this year that we stopped waaay too early with the live tree thing.
For the past 8 years or so we have had our trusty and wonderful plastic tree with the prelighted branches (Michael's fave).
But this year, our tree is a real live one and we couldn't be happier.
It smells wonderfully Christmasy and so far is managing to hang on to most of its needles (so far meaning we put it up before Thanksgiving; judge not).
It was a beauty right from the get-go...
...but so much prettier with a wide-mouth boy crouching next to it, dontcha think?
