Tis' the Season

It's our first Christmas as a married couple and we're really enjoying the excitement of starting our own family traditions, as well as bringing together some of our favorite traditions from our own families. This is the first year (at least that I can ever remember) that we got a REAL Christmas tree!
After Thanksgiving, Danny and I bundled up, bought a hot Caramel Apple Spice from Starbucks (delicious!), and went in search of our first family tree. It was so exciting as I had never gone shopping for a tree before. We were a little astonished by the prices at first. I guess that's what you get for unknowingly starting in Noble Fir section. We were relieved to come to the end of the line where the $20 price tags were. I was surprised at how good they looked for only $20 (again, I'm new to this, so I had no idea of good or bad prices). Although I was a newbie, I was still smart and measured the space we had before going to the tree lot. We poked around a bit, but ended up liking one that was sitting right in front, calling our names. We named him Doug. We both agreed that it was really nice having Danny's truck to just throw it in the bed, as opposed to roping it to the roof and worrying about sap and rope. Among this I also learned that real trees are messy (but still worth it) and smell reeeaaally good when you walk into the house.
I've also had a lot of fun this year decorating our small apartment for the first time. We didn't really have any decorations, but going to our local dollar store helped a little, plus my parents were gracious enough to "thin out" some of their decorations as well. It didn't take much, but we're definitely feeling the Christmas spirit in our home. We finally started some Christmas shopping this weekend (but of course aren't finished yet) and we had a blast! It's a wonderful season for giving and we're having so much fun planning gifts, finding great deals, and putting the wrapped gifts under our first Christmas tree. Now we're looking forward to a week off work with lots of family time and sleeping in.

Pumpkins!!

Last weekend Danny and I drove out to Valley Center to the pumpkin patch (Bates Nut Farm). This is the same pumpkin patch that my parents have been taking my siblings and me since we were tiny kids. I love that we still make it a yearly tradition. My Mom, Dad and sister Joelle came also. The pumpkin patch has lots of different attractions (animals, hay rides, food, face painting, and so on) and yet each year we always do the same exact thing: walk through the gift shop, buy pistachios, and pick out a pumpkin. It's not a pumpkin patch in the Anderson family if we don't have pistachios.
Apparently we'd usually go earlier in the morning to avoid crowds and traffic. This year (because of other events) we came in the late afternoon/evening. BAD idea! The crowds weren't so bad. It was actually kind of fun having so many people to watch. But the traffic was crazy! The line of cars to get into the patch was ridiculous and took almost an hour. But alas, we eventually got into the park and did everything we hoped we would.
I love walking through their store/gift shop. They usually have more Christmas items than Halloween and it always makes me that much more excited about the Holidays. Ornaments, table cloths, magnets, toys, decorated trees, candles, and lots of other fun nick knacks. Even the candy store has barrels "full" of candy and it really does look like a  kids dream come true. Such a wonderful place to bring your family and make memories.
After sitting on a hay bale and snacking on our yummy goods we took off in search of the perfect pumpkin. I was a little disappointed with how small the pumpkins looked this year. There are a lot of things to consider when finding a suitable pumpkin: large carving area, lays flat when placed on a table or floor, long stem to hold. It's a very precise science. I found one that was "good enough" and Danny kept looking for the "perfect" pumpkin, always carrying at least one in his arms until he found a better one to replace it with. Finally we both were pleased with what we had.
Here is the bounty of our search: