Merry and Bright

There may be snow and shopping, but this time of year doesn't feel like christmas without the twinkling lights on a tree. My memories of the strongest feeling of the christmas spirit happened underneath our colorful lights at home in Washington. 

We had a tradition that the Sunday after Thanksgiving we would bundle up warm and go for a walk through the apple orchards as a family. When we spotted a good branch, my dad would saw it off and we would carry it back home to decorate with rainbow lights and our boxes of old ornaments. Each one held a special meaning. Even though I've never had a green tree before, I wouldn't trade our bare branches. 

When my husband and I decided to get our first Christmas tree I was reminded of the rustic apple tree I grew up with. While we couldn't chop down the nearest apple tree here in the city, we decided to pick up a few abandoned branches on one of our mountain biking trips and make our own.