It's beginning to look like Christmas

We bought our Christmas tree and set it up last week, and I finally got around to taking pictures and posting them tonight. Yes, we still buy a real tree every year. It's a tradition for Jake and me as a couple, and we both grew up in families with real trees. Both of our families actually still buy a real tree every year. I love the tradition of going shopping for a tree every year. Searching for the "perfect" tree just makes it feel like Christmas time for me. And I love the look and smell of a live (dead?) tree in the house. But, I might actually be leaning toward buying a fake tree! It's not very economical to pay $50-60 per year for a tree, you have to search for one in the cold, they're messy, you have to water them every day, and I'm not sure the fresh pine smell, which is nicely imitated in many candles, is enough persuasion in favor of a real tree.
Now I just have to convince Jake. . .
Any way, here's how ours turned out this year:

Dallin is very helpful; he helps me redecorate the tree every day to make sure it looks perfect. He loves to take the ornaments off, especially the Pinocchio's, which he calls "Nocchio's", and play with them while he's eating. They've been dropped in milk, in mac and cheese, and many other tasty things. Dallin's favorite ornament is the Snowman Jack from Jack in the Box, which he calls Baby Jackson. ?!?!? I really don't know why. Maybe he hears about babies so much at home he's just obsessed.

He also loves to take the stockings off the banister and throwing them down the stairs, yelling "bombs away!"

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We have lights outside on the house for the first time this year. In the condo we just did the obligatory lights around the patio railing. But this year with a house on a pretty festive street, we had to get into the spirit. I could not convince myself, however, to brave the cold outside tonight to get a picture of the house for the blog. Maybe another time.
And it just wouldn't be Christmas without lots of snow!