Last Friday we drove out to Kuipers Family Farm with Joel an Kate to cut down our Christmas trees. It's hard to believe it has been a whole year since we did this last year, and yet a lot has happened as well: we had Tenny (who is now 6 months old!), found and moved into our house, and had a whole summer's worth of adventures. What's the saying, the days are long but the years are short?

It was oh sooo so cold! Poor little Tenny's nose and cheeks were all rosy. I found abandoned bird nests in mutliple trees (should those be a discount or should they charge extra?) We found a nice tall and skinny tree, a perfect fit for the space, since we have rather tall ceilings and also needed room to walk around it. This year we didn't have to sneak the tree in and nervously sweep pine needles off of the back steps! Now that we live in our own house we can declare fresh trees for everyone, always and forever! Then we went into the farm store for hot apple cider and donuts.

What a wonderful tradition: bringing a whole living tree into your house and stringing it with twinkling lights, and seeing Indy's excitement renews my appreciation and wonder.

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. I feel. . .old (everyone over the age of 30 has permission to slap me.) I'll admit I have some anxiety about growing older (even as a 20-something!) because I'm nervous I will run out of time to accomplish some of my dreams while I'm still young. It's a feeling that sort of ties into this post from the other week; it's easy to envision some future time when I'll be living just the way I think my heart was hard-wired to, and that can make me feel like every year that ticks by is a waste of precious time. But that's not really true. The journey there is of equal importance, and all of the things I learn on my way are necessary and important. Plus, these are still the days I will look back on fondly some day. And those guys up above are just so darn cute, at least I've got a couple babies under my belt! How could I not be grateful that they're here to celebrate my birthday with me?

Alan (and the rest of the family) showered me with wonderful gifts, including a massage from our dear friend Mary, during which Alan baked a double layer yellow einkorn cake with key lime frosting. Um. Yum. It helped keep the quarter life crisis feelings to a minimum ;)