Christmas Tree Farm // Living Stephen

Happy December 12th! Only 13 more days until Christmas!

Christmas is coming up so quick, and I am so excited/sad! I feel like I wait all year for Christmas to come, so it's always a little bit bittersweet when it gets this close and I know it will end soon. :( Luckily, we will be trying to get as much Christmas packed into the next two weeks as possible. Starting with buying a Christmas tree!

Growing up, we always went to the local store and bought a real Christmas tree. We would come home, put it in the holder, put all the lights up ourselves, water it and enjoy spending the evening together. Unfortunately, around 12 or 13, my parents decided to buy a fake tree, and all the excitement of the Christmas tree kind of went away. Luckily, since I'm living away from home now, Tyler, Robert and I decided to actually go to a Christmas Tree Farm and cut down our own tree! (More like, look at the uncut ones, and decide to pick one that was already cut.)

It was so much fun to actually go out and walk through the trees. The smell completely set the scene, and the fun we had running through the mud to each tree was unforgettable.

There was so many trees throughout the farm, I couldn't even believe it. Although a lot of the trees out in the lot were a bit smaller than we hoped, it was just fun looking at them. There is so much happiness and excitement knowing its Christmas time and that we were going to be able to take one of the trees home and decorate it.

We had so much fun, and I would really recommend going out and getting your own tree. It's so nice to drive out far away from the city and relax a little bit. Our phones weren't working very well, so it's almost like we were in a different country. It was amazing.

Hopefully within the next couple days, I'll be able to show you the finished product of our Christmas tree.. because it looks pretty damn good! I'm so happy with it!

Until next time, Merry Christmas!

Stephen

I had to add this.. HAHAHA.

Is it too soon for Christmas? // Living Stephen

Hello everybody!

As you may or may not know, I work for Starbucks and have the pleasure (or not) of talking to many different kinds of people, since I work in a busy part of downtown; tourists from all around the world, business people, homeless people, and all of the different kinds of people in between. Since Halloween ended, Starbucks has started to slowly start bringing in the Christmas decorations and drinks, and now, here we are, mid-November, and the Christmas has gone full force in every store across the nation.

So from my experience the past couple of weeks from customers and coworkers, I have found a very negative response to the Christmas joy coming so early. Many people walk in, roll their eyes at the Christmas music playing and joke about how we "just forget about Thanksgiving." (which is probably a little bit true.)

However, sometimes I witness the complete opposite. I'll see people walk in from the rain and gloom, and instantly become overwhelmed with excited and happiness as they see the red cups are out and the Christmas coffee is back in. I feel their excitement that Christmas is just around the corner, and that before we know it, the hustle and bustle of Christmas will be here. It really is such an amazing thing to witness and makes my opinion that much more cemented.

Lets get one thing straight; I love Thanksgiving. I love eating, sitting back and reminiscing about all of the things I have in my life that I am thankful for. It's great. However, I honestly love starting Christmas this early. Tyler and I already started decorating for Christmas in our house, and I already have three tabs opened to lists of gifts I have ready for my family and friends. Yes, I may be a little bit obsessed with Christmas, but I really don't think we should think negatively about Christmas starting. If you think about it, if we start "getting into the Christmas spirit" on December 1st, that gives us only about 24 days to get all of our excitement in. Now, for some people.. that seems like a long time, but for some of us crazy humans, it's not.

I think Christmas is a time for people to feel happy and excited, and I think that if that feeling starts a couple weeks early, why not? Work seems to go by faster, I feel more accepting of the cold, and I'm generally in a better mood!

Now that I put in my two sense about Christmas, let me know what you think! Write me on Tumblr or down in the comments, and tell me your opinion. I'd love to hear it!

I'm going to go listen to Christmas music now!

Stephen