O Tannenbaum!

With Thanksgiving past us, it was time for our annual trip to get the Maxey family Christmas tree. The day was cold but dry, yet we still decided to get him into his snowsuit and boots (and hat and mittens) to combat the frigid temps. It took three adults to get him into his garb.

But boy did he look cute when he was finally dressed! And, as usual, my sister was impeccably attired even on a cold day.

Little B is able to walk but he isn't very fast and isn't so sure on his feet just yet, so we decided to strap him to someone again this year. My burgeoning belly kept me from hauling my little man around, my dad and husband had to carry the tree, and my sister has back troubles, so the duty fell to my mom. She handled all 28 pounds of him pretty well, though! Baylor, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled about it at first.

He may have been more pissed about the mittens on his hands than anything else at that point, though.

Eventually, though, he got to smiling, even laughing a bit when Oma would "run him into" a tree.

My parents have a cathedral ceiling in their office where the tree was going to go, so we had to head down the giant hill at the tree farm to find a bigger, taller tree. Big B carried Little B down the hill so my mom wouldn't have to shoulder the weight.

Then he got to try walking in his new boots and snowsuit ... it didn't go overly well unless he had someone to hold onto.

Every year my dad measures the tree ... it's gotta be at least up to his fingers, if not taller. (He's 6'4" tall, by the way.)

My husband got my mom and son on the truck going up the hill so no one would have to carry the little man, then the remaining four of us cut down the tree and got it up the hill. Okay, the guys did most of the work, but I did take pictures!

Then they got it all bound up and measured ... this year's tree was about 10' tall!

After a little hot cocoa and getting the tree strapped to the roof of the car, we headed off to Real Food Cafe for a little lunch. I think my little man was happy to finally be free of his snowsuit.

Once we finished our awesome lunch, we headed back to my parents' house to put up and decorate the tree (and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation). Little B took a nap during the whole extravaganza which was probably for the best.

When my parents put up a tree, there is always a lot of vacuuming involved. Seriously.

Dad and I got the lights on the tree, pausing a little bit for his favorite part of the movie (where Clark goes to the mall to do a little adulterous shopping). Don't the lights look pretty?!

Then Dad put on the angel ...

We had to cut off a couple of the top branches, and we were in awe of how sappy this tree was. Take a look at that!

My mom made some slice and bake cookies for us to eat while we decorated. Homemade slice and bake, of course.

My maternity pants got wet while we were out getting the tree, and my mom offered to throw them in with the darks she was going to do so I took her up on it. Instead of getting another pair of maternity jeans dirty (I only have so many of them, you know?) I decided to decorate the tree in my skivvies. Jealous?

My husband threw his pants in the wash, too ... luckily he was wearing exercise shorts underneath! Here he is admiring all our handiwork.

My sister looked fantastic and was cheery in spite of a cold! That's the spirit, Christine!

When Little B finally woke up, he was in awe of the tree and all its wonderful lights. My sister promptly taught him how to turn on and off said lights (thanks again, Christine!) and he set to work.

Boy oh boy, was he excited!

We hung out for a little while longer, then headed home to decorate our own tree. After we got all the Christmas decorations upstairs, Baylor took it upon himself to strength test the Rubbermaid containers. Yes, yes, he climbed up there himself.

He was pretty proud of himself to say the least!

We have the same on/off switch as my parents, so Baylor quickly set to work turning our living room into a disco!

We couldn't put all our ornaments up this year because a certain little someone isn't quite old enough to be around uber-fragile things, so it took a bit of reorganizing to get the tree all decorated. My husband isn't overly keen on decorating for Christmas, so he kept Little B occupied while I scurried around filling the house with Christmas cheer.

All in all, it was a great day! The house looks cheery, and Baylor LOVES the lights! What could be better?