o tannenbaum!

in a fit of norman rockwell sentimentality, we went out yesterday morning and cut down a christmas tree. i hemmed and hawed about getting one, but in the end i decided that it would feel more christmaslike around here with our own tree. with all my anxiety about work and the stress of having to wrap more than three presents, we were already pretty much in the christmas spirit. but having a tree really gives us an over-the-top holiday vibe.

it was a beautiful foggy morning when we set out to find bob's u-cut in rural lacey. we stopped at starbucks first (duh!), and then went to fred meyer to buy some tree lights and a dingleball tree skirt. we pulled up to the u-cut place, which was really just a modest tract of land with an ancient boarded up trailer, a golden retriever, and a weathered, middle-aged guy in timber camo bibs. and a bunch of trees, of course. we grabbed a saw from the rusty card table that was haphazardly set up in front of the trailer, and headed out into the field. we did a lap in the car first to check everything out, and finally settled on a row of trees that would have made charles schultz proud. we parked and started traipsing around in the dew.

after a few minutes of deliberation and sock-wetting, sean spotted a sparse six foot tree that looked perfect. i made him stop sawing a few times so i could snap pictures with my old nikon (which seemed appropriate for the whole vibe). in one picture, he's holding the freshly cut tree up by the trunk, high in the air, with the saw in the other hand. he's wearing his green wool vest and looks so manly. norman rockwell would be proud.

finally, maple started whining from the cold, so i got her back in the car while sean strapped the tree to the roof rack and we took off. we found out when we paid that we had picked a noble fir, which sounded really fancy. it was only $20!

this morning when the tree was dry, we brought it inside and decorated it with tiny white lights and a few ornaments that my mom had brought out from pittsburgh. i set all the presents under the tree, and now it's damn festive in here. it even smells faintly piney. we've got a fire in the fireplace and the sopranos on the tube. now all we need is santa.