Tis The Season

We’re slowly creating some family traditions, and one of those is going to a local farm to get our tree. For the past three years, we’ve gone to tree farms in the Pittsburgh region to get a live tree. This year, we were able to get a larger tree than we’ve ever had before. In our old apartment, we were pressed to find floor space for anything taller than four feet even though our ceilings were about fourteen feet high. We ventured out with Nick’s parents to a tree farm we had not been to before, and of course they found their tree in less than ten minutes. We did not have such great luck and ended up going all the way to the back of the lot. The ground was not frozen, so we ended up slugging through quite a bit of mud to find our tree, but it was all in good fun.

We realize there are sometimes strong opinions about getting live trees versus getting a fake one. No matter what your choice is, as long as you love it, that’s all that matters. We love the process of going out and getting a tree and wreath every year, and love the smell and textures of a real tree. We also like supporting local family tree farms. If you’re wondering if we mind watering the tree the answer is no, not at all. Kayle is a plant person, so watering is already a part of her routine.

This year, we got a tree that is about six feet to the very top. Nick was a good scale for measuring tree height at the farm. Our paneling and plate rail in the dining room stop at about five foot six, so we knew we wanted the tree to be just a bit taller than that. We could have gotten a bigger tree since our ceilings are 8’-8”, but six foot felt right.

You may be wondering why we chose to put the tree in the dining room. Well, it’s honestly the only place it would fit. We needed a deep corner, and while we have two in the living room, we have storage cabinets there. We actually love the tree in here because we spend a good amount of time at the table.

In the images below, you can see a sneak peek of the color we’re planning to paint this room. We tested it out above the fireplace, and are happy with our choice. So, more on that soon!

We also decided to go with a tree collar this year. They seem trendy right now, and for good reason. For us, it’s a great barrier between our dogs and the tree water. Anyone else have doggos who seek out every drop of water and always try to lick the dishwasher when its open? Just us?

We’re done with our shopping and wrapping a bit early this year. I’m slowly becoming my mother.

It is really nice to be able to enjoy this festive corner of the house since we’re not huge on holiday decor.

We have a few special ornaments, and with the dogs, we try to keep everything breakable up toward the top of the tree. Our icicles on the tree are plastic - we would love to have glass ones, but that’s out of the question for us with our pups. Lower branches are filled with our more common ornaments, or ones that are made of wood or metal. Scroll through the images below to see a few of our favorite ornaments.