Christmas Tree Hunting | 2014

The Filliben Family prides itself on its crazy family traditions. See, both my mom and my dad didn’t have a lot of Holiday traditions growing up.  When they started a family, they knew that they wanted some things to be consistent from year to year.  One of those things is that we get to spend every Thanksgiving with our “fake family” the Coxes.  This sweet and special union was first formed by my mom and her best friend from college- Karen.  They each got married, spent a Thanksgiving together and it’s been a tradition ever since!  Through kids, moving across the world (literally), and a million things in-between, we’ve only spent a handful of Thanksgivings apart since this tradition started almost 20 years ago!  Among the many traditions that they started, my favorite is the infamous “Tree Hunt”.  We adventure through tree farms searching for the most perfect tree to hang our trimmings for Christmas!  The older I get the more I appreciate these special memories.  I still remember when my sweet little sister was a BABY and we did this!   Meet my cousin Julia- and yep, that’s my sweet sister, Myra! One thing you’ve gotta learn about my Uncle D- he LOVES to photo bomb…. No, really, he LOVES it 😉 I love them! I’m not really sure what’s going on here- but I laugh every time I look at this photo! Photo bombing champion 🙂 This girl totally has my heart !! Every year someone makes the joke about cutting down a “Charlie Brown Christmas Tree” and every year we make fun of the person who cracked the joke first- as if we didn’t see it coming.  haha I swear- my mom and sister are SO angelic!Aunt Karen and Julia!She’s my best friend <3Proabably my most favorite family photo we’ve ever taken!Part of our tradition is that the kids chop down the tree- I’m the one who started it.  I was a feisty kid who wanted to chop down the tree every year- and finally, when I was old enough, the adults let me help.  Now the kids do it by themselves, and the parents sit back and laugh at us! The struggle!We’re so awkward! haha Apparently, Myra and Uncle D thought it was more efficient to drag our tree over another tree, instead of walking around it….We conquered!Gah!  I just love my family!  So thankful to have such sweet gifts like them!  I hope you hug those you love close and remind them how much you treasure them!

Happy Thursday!
xo
AnnaFilly