We got our Christmas tree!

The holidays always make me feel the most American. Maybe it's because my Mom always went all out celebrating any holiday when we were younger or because they just make you feel nostalgic in general or maybe it's because Americans have an enthusiasm that cannot be rivaled, especially in times of real celebration.

We get excited at the drop of a hat - something I love about our culture and never fully realized until I left the U S of A - and this is especially apparent around holidays. We go wild at the 4th of July, dressing in red, white and blue, setting off fireworks and attending/participating in parades. We throw Halloween parties complete with dry ice, "mud" pie with worms and haunted houses created in the garage. And we cannot celebrate Christmas without a fine, full and fat, real Christmas tree.

I searched high and low for a cute Christmas tree farm with hot apple cider and candy canes close to Edinburgh. I had no luck. I found one such place near the Scottish Borders but it wasn't open yet (and didn't have hot apple cider) and I had already decided I wanted a tree today (well, Sunday). If anyone does, however, know of anywhere you can go cut down your own tree here, please let me know for next year. Or I might just have to go get another one this year.

Anyway, we did see that our old trusty friend, Gorgie City Farm (where we met Santa last year) was selling trees and I thought this was probably as "cute" as we could get considering it is a kid friendly destination, it's close and we knew they were selling trees this year. I, as always, was concerned about timing because Freddie sometimes doesn't wake up from his afternoon nap until 3:30pm and the farm shuts at 4pm in the winter (sidebar- it is SO dark here. Always.).

So, I tweeted them and asked what time they sell the trees 'til. I was proud of myself for utilizing this social networking platform that I typically consider too overwhelming (it's impossible to keep up with everyone's tweets!) except for the case of entering blog competitions, which has become a favorite pastime. And, lo and behold, they tweeted back! Good news was- they were open until 8 so there was no need to rush. And, moral of that story, I might just have to use twitter more.

Here are some pics of us picking out the tree, shoving it in the car and decorating it at home. Freddie is SO excited about it and every morning runs in and points at every single ornament. I can't wait to see what he does when Santa comes!