I try to avoid the shopping malls on the weekend after Thanksgiving. It's too insane. I was reading in the news about an employee of Wal Mart getting trampled to death by insane shoppers trying to save a few extra bucks. It's just not worth it to me to be among that crowd. My shopping list is pretty short, anyway. It's not like I've got a gigantic family to shop for.
Instead, we decided to put up our first Christmas tree this weekend. We picked up one of those fake, 6 foot "Sierra Fir" trees that they sell at Target for around 25 bucks. It's small and it fits well in our apartment. We don't have much space for a big tree anyway.
I let Sara and Kyle put the decorations on, although Kyle would usually take them off just as soon as he put them on. I'm just waiting to see how many times the tree falls over before Christmas, and how many times we have to pick up the ornaments.
The kids love the tree, especially when it's all lit up. I kind of envy their excitement. Seeing them brings back memories of my own childhood at Christmas. My parents never had a big, fancy tree. It looked very similar to the one we have now, and I remember we used to decorate it with ornaments that we made in school. Some of the stuff we made was pretty ugly, but it made the tree more personal.
So this will be our first Christmas we spend together as a family of four. No more long plane rides from Taiwan to California. No more sleeping in the freezing cold kitchen of my brothers house, or having to crash on Jerry Yen's sofa. No more dealing with in-laws who are just counting the time until we leave. It's just us now. It feels a little strange to be deviating from our normal routine, but this way is better.
(Pictures: Sara, Klye, and the Christmas tree.)
Instead, we decided to put up our first Christmas tree this weekend. We picked up one of those fake, 6 foot "Sierra Fir" trees that they sell at Target for around 25 bucks. It's small and it fits well in our apartment. We don't have much space for a big tree anyway.
I let Sara and Kyle put the decorations on, although Kyle would usually take them off just as soon as he put them on. I'm just waiting to see how many times the tree falls over before Christmas, and how many times we have to pick up the ornaments.
The kids love the tree, especially when it's all lit up. I kind of envy their excitement. Seeing them brings back memories of my own childhood at Christmas. My parents never had a big, fancy tree. It looked very similar to the one we have now, and I remember we used to decorate it with ornaments that we made in school. Some of the stuff we made was pretty ugly, but it made the tree more personal.
So this will be our first Christmas we spend together as a family of four. No more long plane rides from Taiwan to California. No more sleeping in the freezing cold kitchen of my brothers house, or having to crash on Jerry Yen's sofa. No more dealing with in-laws who are just counting the time until we leave. It's just us now. It feels a little strange to be deviating from our normal routine, but this way is better.
(Pictures: Sara, Klye, and the Christmas tree.)
I also read about how the walmart worker died. Crazy how people are willing to risk someones life to save some cash. Sad.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I am officially addicted to your blog, so keep up the good posts.