It's that time of the year . . .

 . . . to decorate the Christmas tree and drink lots of hot chocolate!  One of my favorite family traditions was going up into the mountains to pick out our Christmas tree every year.  I haven't been home in a few years in time to put up the Christmas tree, but it remains one of my favorite parts of Christmas.  We don't have nearly as many Christmas decorations as my mom does, but we turn up the Christmas music and pull out the green and red boxes.  Even though we weren't 1. in our own place long before Christmas, and 2. here long enough to enjoy it, I couldn't NOT put up the Christmas tree.  So here it is before it fell over (the base mysteriously broke sometime over the course of the last year).