oh, christmas tree

I bought a fake tree last year and it just wasn't the same. This year my goal was to get a real tree that wasn't cut down. There's a wonderful company in LA that delivers living Christmas trees and then they pick them up when you're done with them. As much as I loved that idea, it was a bit too pricey. So while searching high and low, we found this little guy at a lovely plant store. He was a Dwarf tree and was the only one left and he was lopsided. Nobody wanted him. When I looked at him, I knew he was the perfect fit for this little family. Since he's little (like an elf). I automatically had to name him "Hermey". After one of my favorite elves in one of our family's favorite Christmas movie (Rudolph). Remember Hermey wanted to be a dentist and didn't want to make toys? ("Hermey doesn't like to make toys!")  

The only problem with a "dwarf" tree is that your ornaments are WAY too big. Charlie wanted a piece of the action so I caved and let him play with the unbreakable ornaments from last year.

I found the tiny garland at Target. I couldn't find little ornaments that I liked so one of my good friends told me to check out the .99 store. I couldn't find anything either (i'm horribly picky) except these little bells and I wasn't sure if I would even use them but they were .99. I'm sure I could've turned them into some sort of craft if I didn't use them. Come to find out they were the perfect fit Hermey! Oh, and those little bells were also being sold at Target and they were charging $4-$5 for them. So I'm glad I only paid .99 for them. Thanks for the suggestion, Linds!! Instead of a tree skirt, I decided to put the L & M (the letters of our last names) letters at the bottom of it. The tree topper was a no brainer once we brought him home. A few years ago a certain favorite gramma bought me my favorite ornament. It's a NY Giants Santa. I like to think our NY Giants Santa watches over us to make sure we're being good boys and girls (kinda like that elf on the shelf) :) Hermey now resides on our side table that was rearranged so a certain "hands on" one-year-old can't reach it. I'm hoping I can keep Hermey alive so he can grow with us and maybe be Charlie's own personal little tree next year. I figure if I give something a name I have a better chance of keeping it alive :)