Our First Tree!

So we decided to go and get our tree on Wednesday December 10th, we got it at home depot for a really great price. I was so excited the entire time because I still could not believe my luck that our apartment building allows Live Christmas trees! I am used to always having a live Christmas tree at my house, I think the smell of a live Christmas tree is one of the most beautiful smells ever created by God. Andrew was always used to having an artificial tree so this was a new experience for him! I asked him if he minded having a live tree this year...and he in his eternal sweetness replied "no of course not!" Even with the thought in mind that live tree's are a lot more work...and it's the kind of work guys are usually better at such as screwing long weird shaped screws into the wet trunk of a tree.



Finally we got the tree in place and all squared away and everything, even through my endless laughing as usual and taking pictures of Andrew from weird angles because he looked funny trapped behind the tree on his side with his head all the way under the tree. Andrew is a very patient man. You definitely need to be patient when one of your wife's bad habits is giggling at you sometimes with no better reason than: "just because". :D
So then we started to decorate! Of course the first one that got put on the tree was my first ornament, a red house shape with a little house and tree and barn glued onto it and 'Sarah 1989" written on it. My mom made that ornament for me when we moved into our new house, she made one for all of us kids with a BROKEN ANKLE! And then Andrew's first ornament went on...one he received at birth practically...so I think he has me beat there. And then of course went on our newest ornaments, the beautiful crosses we got from Mom and Dad Gilbertson and the one we got for ourselves on the honeymoon...a model of the Reliant from The Wrath of Khan that LIGHTS UP! And as we were decorating Andrew was telling me stories about when he got each ornament and then I would tell him some of my stories: "This is the one I got when I first learned how to ride a bike." I remember learning how to ride a bike, I wanted to learn SO BAD and being the little dramatic I was I remember dropping my bike in a ray of sunshine and falling to my knees and praying out loud "GOD, please let me be able to ride my bike RIGHT now! Please!" And thinking it would work. It's actually a good illustration for life because sometimes we ask God to give us something "RIGHT NOW!" We ask that we will know an answer or figure out how to do something "Right now!" and it just doesn't always work like that, I probably wouldn't be as good at riding a bike if I hadn't learned how to ride it over time. God knows that for the most part, we as humans, need to learn things as we go and gradually because we actually reap much more benefit, including confidence in Him, that way. Also if God answered all our prayers instantly like that we wouldn't be able to help anyone else get through times like that, we wouldn't have the experience, we wouldn't grow spiritually and we would always remain 'babies' in the spiritual sense.
Andrew then was going to open a box of his most favorite ornaments, a ship in a glass bottle and an octopus...sadly neither survived the journey across country. :( Although I still argue that the octopus (Which I keep spelling "ocotopos" as I type) should still be hung up because his two legs broke off in the BACK, and you can't see the back. He showed me his Bianca and Bernard from 'Rescuer's Down Under' when McDonalds used to make Christmas ornaments (they probably would get sued now if they dared make Christmas ornaments!:D ), and his Fievel stocking and the cutest little green dinosaur made out of cloth that he said he still remembers putting on the tree when he was a little little boy. I love thinking about him that way and I wish I could go back in time and see him. If God blesses us with Children I hope that we have a little boy that looks exactly like Andrew so I can see in a way what he was like as a little boy. :)
And then we were done and it was 12:30 at NIGHT! It took us that long! We had hot chocolate and then stumbled off to sleep. It was a great night for us. I keep on thinking how great next year will be, God willing, how we will have had more time to plan out Christmas and we will have memories of our first Christmas still fresh as yesterday in our minds. I love being at the beginning with Andrew, it's so strange thinking how fast time has already passed for us though! It makes me realize even more the importance of taking it a day at a time and just being thankful for every moment you get to share together.