Johnson Family

Okay, so here is this year's Kuipers Family Christmas Tree...I am not sure that it will be a winner for various reasons but oh well, we can try harder next year.
So this year I had visions of taking the family out to pick a tree - I thought Sydney would have a good time and I knew Raleigh would. But...James went though about 2 weeks of a terrible cold and had no desire to go looking for a tree. So, since I wanted the tree up by Sydney's birthday, I woke Raleigh up early from a nap on a Saturday, hooked up the rack on the minivan hitch, stuck Raleigh in her seat and we headed on our way to Fruitbasket Flowerland (kind of like a Michael's) to get our tree. Well, I told Raleigh where we were going and she seriously tried to convince me to go to a tree lot that she has seen days earlier to get our tree. Because we were almost to Flowerland, I had to convince her that we would go to the real tree lot next year. She tried convincing me that, no, this year we would go to the tree lot and next year we can go to flowerland...anyway, we made it to the place and I figured that a small tree would be best because I was getting it myself. So, we had our choice between about 10 trees. I could not get Raleigh to agree with me on a tree, she picked the one that had the crooked "double trunk". So, as any mom would do, I told her we would get that one while secretly motioning the tree man to wrap up the other one I had chosen. So, both of us were happy. Raleigh and I hauled the tree in ourselves and I put the lights on and Raleigh helped decorate the tree (notice the abundance of ornaments on the bottom of the tree). You probably wouldn't notice either that some of the ornaments are missing because Sydney takes them off the tree and walks around the house with them. It is either that or plastic plates from the cupboard.
So, I have tried 5 times to get a picture of them in front of the tree but both girls are so sick of pictures that they don't cooperate anymore - so this is what you get. We couldn't pry the sippy cup out of Syd's hands and Raleigh insisted on bringing some "friends" in the picture with her. I told her that her imaginary friends Eja, Tobexen and Tika would be better for the picture but "no, Mom, they are on their way to Church". So, this is what you get for our tree entry this year. Hopefully, next year won't have such an involved story...and the crooked double trunk just might be a better option.
And finally in a side note - thank you to Dan and Gretchen for stopping by our house to give us our ornaments because we won't be at Grandma's this year. And Dan, Raleigh seriously stopped screaming as soon as you left...for those who don't know, EVERY TIME Raleigh has seen Dan she screems - since she was a baby - we have no idea why - it is so funny.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
James, Carrie, Raleigh, and Sydney