Hello, for those who do not know me my name is Chris. Crystal and I have been married for 10 years in February. Since our first Christmas we have always put up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. It has always been a live tree. The one above is alive, even if it does not look it. We all go to the tree lot and all look for the perfect tree. Last year it was Tuck that found the tree, and he still talks about how he was the one to find the perfect one. And this year it was Crystal, she fell in love with this flocked Charlie Brown tree. Christmas has always been our favorite holiday and even more so now that we have our 3 wonderful kids. We love this time of year and cant wait to get everything up and decorated. But by the time Christmas is over I am also the first on the block to haul our tree to the curb after Christmas morning is over. When I was growing up we moved a lot and there was never any consistency with the holidays. We never knew where we would be. If we would be in a new house or different town. (And no it was not a military family we just moved a lot.) So I always knew when I had a family there would be consistency with the holidays. I want them to carry them on with when they grow up. With 3 kids that spent the first parts of their lives growing up with out consistency I find traditions very important. I always want them to know what to expect and to look forward to every Christmas. With this being the girls' first Christmas with our family we started a new one this year. This year we introduced the kids to the Elf on the shelf. And they love it. Every morning Tuck and Sissy get up and try to find Archie (this is what the kids named our elf) and see what he has gotten into over night. Dee is a little young for it this year but I want her to know she was a part of this tradition from its start. (The photo above is me reading them the story after we put up our tree & the first night Archie came to visit this year, Below are some photos from where Archie has turned up this year).
-Chris
