November 23, 2012 - The Day after Thanksgiving Tradition

Traditions sometimes just become into existence without you actually knowing it. When Lindsay and I were dating we decided that it would be cool to have our own Christmas tree. So, the day after Thanksgiving we went to Target and got a very cheap and not very thick tree that cost 15 dollars, I think, and some ornaments for our tree. Little did she know that as we were  putting all the ornaments on the tree that night that I had planned to ask her to marry me. I had already taken her to the Pizza Hut where we had our first date and I gave an extra large tip to the dough "artist" that I called and talked to so that he could hand toss our pizza into a heart shape. He did and it looked amazing! So, fast forward to my bedroom at my parents house. We've put all of the ornaments on the tree and we plug in the lights and were standing there basking in the glory of our 6' tall, $15 tree that you can basically see right through when I say, "Hey we forgot this ornament." I grab the ring that was meticulously hidden behind a picture frame and pop the question to her. In case you didn't know, she did say, "Yes." :) Right at that moment when she said yes, balloons started dropping from the ceiling and a fairy appeared out of nowhere holding a large microphone and took us on a magic carpet ride. Wait. Strike that. Different story. Anyway, every year since then, we have put up our tree on the day after Thanksgiving. Even though Lindsay is on the other side of the 3rd rock from the sun from me, we decided that it would be okay that I go ahead and put it up without her or Grayson here. Hopefully, they'll be able to come home before Christmas and all the decorations will already be up and we can celebrate! While I was putting it up, I decided to do a little stop-motion/time lapse photography of the process just for kicks. I say, "Just for kicks." pretty often and when I say it I always picture a guy doing a heel-click while jumping about 5 feet off the ground. Why? No idea. Here's the clip of me putting up the tree.
- Matt