Bub is 21 and Christmas Trees

Jacob turned twenty one on Monday. If he had his druthers, he would have turned twenty one on a Friday or Saturday at any time during the course of the school year such that he and all of his college friends would be in Cincinnati together. A Monday at home in staid Springboro near Christmas was probably the worst case scenario for this milestone birthday for him. While there was nothing we could do about the timing of it, we tried to make it special for him!

I made a balloon arch for him (what every twenty one year old guy hopes and dreams will be part of his birthday 😏🎉). It was, in defense of the arch, very festive and I got an, "Oh wow!" out of Jacob when he saw it so I am taking that for a win!

Cutest kid- I will take every advantage to display photos of him throughout the years!

I got these glasses for the new year 2000- remember the hype around the millennium? Jacob was not born in the beginning of 2000 rather at the end but I thought they'd make appropriate decor, nonetheless. 

For lunch, Alyssa, Jacob and I went to downtown Dayton to meet Donnie and Abby for lunch (Abby is working in Donnie's law firm during her winter break). Going to Donnie's office is something looked forward to by the kids in part because we go so seldomly (well, except for Abby who has gone to the office hundreds of time since working there part time her senior year of high school and the summer before college) during the year so that it is not ordinary yet we have gone consistently throughout the years enough that the office is familiar to the kids. We always go to Donnie's office first and then go downstairs to eat lunch at Pizzeria Uno's. 

The tree in the lobby of Donnie's work building

The lobby at the firm...

Donnie has been with his firm since graduating from law school. He has worked with many of the attorneys since he began working there over twenty years ago. He started as an associate with a smaller office than this one... He was offered an ownership position probably 13 or 14 years ago and bought shares to become an owner. He has worked so hard not only as an attorney but also as a business owner. He makes it possible for me to fret over things like Christmas tress (coming later in the post...). Anyway, he moved into a corner office when one of the owners retired a few years ago. 

Deep dish pizza at Uno's- YUM

When we arrived home from lunch, I made Jacob's favorite dessert to eat later- semi homemade caramel brownies. A cake mix is involved rendering the dessert not bona fide homemade; yet instead of mixing it with oil and eggs, the mix meets butter and evaporated milk and is then baked with a layer of homemade caramel. Homemade, semi homemade- semantics that doesn't matter anyway. Jacob likes them so I made them. 

It is fun to have a celebration so close to Christmas.  (Fun for everyone except for the birthday boy and his milestone birthday...) I love spending time at home this time of year with lights from the trees making everything, if not cheery and bright, then cheerier and brighter than they were. 

Speaking of Christmas trees, we had a MAJOR Christmas tree deviation this year and it is SO IMPORTANT that it must be documented. Like many houses constructed in the 'burbs in the early 2000's, our house has a two-story family room. Early on in our residence here, we bought a twelve-foot artificial Christmas tree to take advantage of that high ceiling (while I really like the feature of the high ceiling, I have thought many times over the years how square foot affirming it would be if the family room ceiling was one story instead of two and there was a room above the family room). That tree has entered, say, the middle age of artificial trees lives and last year, yet another strand of the lights fell unlit even when plugged in.  The strand of non-working lights was a high one and it was not fun to be perched on a ladder to attach a string of working lights to the section of the tree that was unlit. So, this year, I decided to not put up the twelve-foot tree in the family room. But what tree to put in its stead? As it just so happened, there was a wonderful solution. Last year, I bought a flocked tree for the basement. I put it up in the basement last year and I did not care for it there- to the point where every time I passed it, I thought it was surely a mistake to have purchased it. So, this year when I didn't want to put up the twelve-foot tree in the family room, I knew I would put the flocked tree that I bought last year for the basement but didn't enjoy in the family room. 

I love the flocked tree in the family room. It is not as grand looking a tree as we are used to seeing in the family room for it lacks, by several feet, the height of the tall tree. But I spent at least an hour less assembling it, no ladder was involved in the decorating or reconstructing of lights, and decorating it with the family took a fraction of the time it took with the tall tree. And it is quite pretty, though admittedly not grand. I like its simplicity.

I love the ornaments in this small section of the tree- a homemade photo ornament made by Alyssa, a Hershey's Kiss ornament (purchased either at Hershey Land or Bronner's- I can't remember which), an ornament from Fort Myer's Beach, Florida, an ornament my mom gave me from Germany (the blue round one with a Christmas tree on it), an ornament from the funeral home that did my brother Jay's funeral with his name and dates of his life on it, and an ornament from Bronner's in Michigan. Such meaning and memories...

While we are on the subject of Christmas trees and while I am pontificating on the beauty of them, I may as well show the other Christmas trees that help make our home look (and hopefully feel) festive. This is the entry way tree and it features photo ornaments of the kids and our nieces as well as ornaments in primary colors. I love it!

Our dining room has a lot going on... but I wouldn't want it any other way:). I never had a Christmas tree in this room until my mother in law gave me her Christmas china that had a Christmas tree motif on it...

And then it seemed not merely appropriate but somehow necessary to have a Christmas tree in the dining room...

The hot cocoa/ sweets table

I tried to holiday up Cafe Rineer with a little bit of success...

A few other touches...

We have more decor upstairs but I am sitting too contentedly on the couch at the moment to go and take pictures. This will have to do for now!