Kids Ain't Cheap

But They Sure Are Worth It

Well, It’s Official, Christmas is Finally Coming

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Found on CAPL

Found on CAPL

As far as my kids are concerned, it’s not Christmas until the tree is setup and decorated.  I feel the same way but for a different reason.  I love the smell of it, the way it looks and the spirit of the holiday that it creates.  My kids on the other hand, can’t wait for the tree to go up because they know once we are done decorating it, I will finally setup the train that we put under it.   My oldest son, Harrison, starts asking in March whether Christmas is coming soon and if we will be able to setup the train again.  He is only 4 but doesn’t miss a thing and is quite persistent.   He waits all year for it!

As his father, it’s a pretty fun and special day for me when I finally get to setup the train, grab some drinks and snacks, sit on the floor with my two boys and play with the train.   The process will be repeated just about every night from now until we take the tree down.  It takes real effort for me to keep up my enthusiasm for it, especially after a long day of work. There are days where I just want to go home, eat dinner and relax but then I walk through the door to see two very excited boys, yelling hello over their shoulder as they run in the opposite direction  to get the trains ready for me that makes me feel like a kid again and re-energizes me for the task at hand.

Has the Christmas season started in your house yet? What traditions do you use to start the season?

Great Weekend and a Start to the Holiday Season

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Christmas starts for us with picking out our Christmas tree

Found on Christmasstockimages.com

I love this time of year, my two favorite holidays one right after the other.  For my family, the start of our Thanksgiving and Christmas starts with tagging our tree.   I love Thanksgiving and wish people would decorate and celebrate the coming of Thanksgiving more than they do.  It annoys me that the celebration and marketing of Christmas starts well before Thanksgiving.  With that said, it’s funny that for me, the start of the Thanksgiving holiday is getting together with my family to go and tag our Christmas tree.  It may be hypocritical but meh, I love it just the same.  Trust me, we are all in Thanksgiving mode until December hits.

Our beginning of Christmas Tradition

The four of us (me, my wife and my kids) met up with my sister and her family as well as my parents and drove out to the same Christmas tree farm we have been going to for the last couple of years.  It’s a great little family owned farm with many charms of it’s own.  The tagging is self service, you grab a tag, find a tree that you like and tag it as yours.  You don’t have to pay for the tree until you come back and pick it up.  When you do decide to go back and claim your tree, they cut it fresh, shake the loose needles off of it, wrap it up and help you load it into your car.  All for about $35 – $50 depending on the tree you pick and the size.  It’s a little more than we would pay if we went down to one of local pre-cut parking lot stands but the tradition of going and picking out our tree means much more to me than the extra $5 we spend.

After we tag our tree, we had over to a restaurant called Snuzzles.  It’s in the middle of nowhere, doesn’t even have a sign on the outside but the food, atmosphere and price is great.  At first it seems a little out of place as the whole thing looks like something you would find at a ski resort but the people are friendly and the food can’t be beat for the price.

It’s a day I look forward to every year and this year it did not disappoint.  I am part owner of an Ecommerce company and the next 4 – 6 weeks are going to be insane.  As our business grows, it’s tougher and tougher for me to enjoy the holidays.  I think that is why I cherish days like today more than I ever had before.

How do you kick off the christmas season? Where do you get your tree?