Tis The Season, Underway
As I previously mentioned, I’ve never been a fan of Christmas season encroaching on Thanksgiving. With that marvelous holiday now behind us, I’m now willing to oblige Natalie and get in the spirit.
First things first, of course, is buying the tree. That ever-present glow and Christmas smell is a must-have holiday starter, and getting it in the house two weeks earlier than normal (for us) seemed like the best way to get me charged for season.
Always one to bite off more than we can chew, we decided to make a day of it and finally take advantage of the beautiful weather Sunday by walking around the city as part of a Christmas tree pilgrimage. Since we were headed up Calvert Street in hopes of buying our tree at Oyster Adams Elementary School, we figured why not just keep heading West until we got to the National Cathedral?
The place is unbelievably impressive. It almost looks fake – like it was painted on the sky somehow. I never do a good job of capturing its size on camera, but I think the above picture helps with perspective a bit. We spent a good portion of the morning trying to get Loren excited about visiting this architectural gem. Loren being a budding building and all, we figured that was the angle to play here. He was certainly into it, but I can never quite tell if he’d have been more impressed with this or the playground.
Of course, some time for snacks (for Loren and Ruthie) helped everyone’s mood.
Thoroughly warn out from the long walk, it was time to get our tree.
Now, which one of these monsters were we going to bring home?
Lets see if we can handle this one:
Two and a half feet of evergreen goodness.
Pushing a stroller, walking down the sidewalk while carrying our tiny tree on my shoulder reminds me why I’ve loved living in the city these last seven years. There is an element of wonderful absurdity that can attach to almost every situation if you’re willing to embrace it. Our family of four might live in a one-bedroom apartment, but who cares? It’s small, our tree is small, we’re small.
The National Cathedral is really, really big.
Everything is busy and complicated and hurried. Until it slows down for you and becomes basic and simple.
A stroller, a tiny tree, a little family on a nice Sunday walk.
It was a good way to start the season.
Completely warn out, old Christmas movies still make for a nice break.
