March 28, 2024

‘And a partridge in a pear tree’

The Pierson family really started to get into the holiday spirit this past weekend. After a very busy fall craft show season that wrapped up the weekend before, we were all ready to move into “the most wonderful time of the year.”

I had done a little outdoor decorating in the unseasonably warm days at the end of November to kick off the Christmas season. While I am nowhere near as good as my mom when it comes to outdoor scenes and hanging lights, I do have several snowmen and trees in our front yard with greenery intertwined with lights framing the front door to add a little nighttime sparkle.

Friday was the unofficial start to our Christmas festivities. We had plans to get a Christmas tree, visit with Santa and possibly see Jolly Holiday Lights. Much to my surprise, we accomplished everything and in good time.

In a change from years past, we took my SUV to Des Moines to get the tree instead of my husband’s truck. Knowing we wouldn’t be getting a huge tree, we figured it could easily be strapped to the roof for the ride home. This move was totally done out of the unwillingness to move the girls’ car seats from my car to my husbands. If you’ve ever had to unstrap, haul and re-strap a car seat, you will understand why this was done.

As our Santa of choice has resided at Bass Pro Shop since our girls were born, we are pretty familiar with the process six years in. When we first got to town we went straight to the store, picked up our “Bass Pass” and found Santa would be available at 7:30, or in about an hour. That worked our perfectly for our schedule and we headed to Lowe’s to select the perfect tree.

I would love to say we are the family that goes out, chops down our own tree and has all of those special memories, but we aren’t. A few years ago when we did try our hand at a tree farm, the tree selection was terrible and we ended up purchasing an over-priced, pre-cut tree from the farm instead. I have seen many of my friends find farms that seem to be more equipped in recent years, but I have to say our little tradition of picking out our tree at Lowe’s in growing on me. The girls are warm and happy walking the aisles and searching through dozens of trees and the convenience for us is well, great.

As I said before, we decided to strap the tree to the roof this year, which, to quote my husband “we will never do again.” The girls and I disappeared to Target while the work was being done and when we returned it looked so cute up there and I took a picture. But since I wasn’t the one trying to get a tree tied down to a car roof, I can’t argue with my husband’s “never again” assessment.

We moved on from there to have our yearly meeting with Santa. The line wasn’t very long and we moved through pretty quickly to see the big guy and after pictures were taken, the girls each informed him they would like a Hatchimal. Thankfully, that toy has been at the top of their list for months and Santa’s helper, aka me, secured the goods back in September.

Since it was still fairly early and we were in the area, we decided to take in Jolly Holiday Lights. It is for such a great cause in the Make A Wish Foundation and the spectacular display of lights fit right in with our holiday adventures.

We must have picked the best night of the year because after paying we got right in and moved along steadily through the whole display. The highlight, at least for me, was listening to the girls try their best to sing “The 12 Days of Christmas” as we passed by the lighted representation of the song. As the number got higher, the singing got faster and by the end, they were going so fast it was mostly giggles coming from the backseat.

The rest of the weekend we spent decorating the tree and the house with all of our Christmas goodies. It was a great weekend spent with my family making new memories and adding to our Christmas traditions.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com