O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree ...

So, it's been our tradition that we put up the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. We've done it this way since we got married and we usually make fun of the people who put it up earlier than that. It's ridiculous right?? Well, this year we heard from several of our friends and family that they've already put up their tree. Now I LOVE Christmas time. When I start to see trees and holly and toys in the stores, it just makes me happy! So, when I started hearing about all these people that I know who've already put up their Christmas decorations, it made me get the itch. I found my self getting very excited about decorating. I was wishing Thanksgiving was here so that I could put up the Christmas tree!! I thought about it for a couple of days and then decided that maybe we could just put the tree up a couple of weeks early. I thought about doing it during the day while Joel was at work (he notoriously hates putting up Christmas decoration), but then decided that it was a family event and we should wait for him. So, last Monday, the kids and I brought in all of the decorations and set them in the living room. I called Joel and told him that when he got home we had a surprise activity to do!! :) So, Joel came home, told me I was ridiculous, we had left overs for dinner and then we started on the Christmas tree!! I told the kids that we could listen to Christmas music and drink hot chocolate too. We got a new tree this year (see below for more on that) so it took us a little bit longer to figure out how it all connected, but we figured it out eventually and now our house looks great!!!!

Just getting started.

The biggest challenge of the night ..... explaining to Gabe that he CANNOT TOUCH!

Isabel put the angel on this year.

Gabe thought he needed a ride too.

Joel's domain was the top portion ... he's the only one who can reach it!

Isabel's was a big help this year.

Drinking their Candycane Hot Chocolate.

Ok, so the story on the new Christmas tree is this ....... when we got married we had a small house that was just perfect for us. For our first Christmas we bought a little tree for our living room. I think that tree was under 6' tall. It was perfect for our little house. Well, a couple of years later, we had Isabel and as she got older her stuff started to dominate the house. We knew that we wanted to have another baby so we decided to move because if one baby didn't fit, we knew two wouldn't. So, we moved to a bigger house. The house we live in now is two stories high and has HUGE vaulted ceilings in the living room. When our first Christmas in this house came along, we set up our little 6' tree and laughed. The tree that used to fill out the living room nicely was suddenly dwarfed by everything else in the room. We've kept our eye out each year for a good deal on a bigger tree, but we just hadn't found one yet. Well, this summer while I was at a yard sale, I noticed a Christmas tree in the corner of the garage. I inquired about it and was told that the tree was over 7' tall and it was pre lit. And the best part ....... it was $15!!!!!! The man told me that he wanted a real tree this year and his wife told him that if he could sell the fake tree at the yard sale, they could get their real tree. As far as I could tell this was a win-win situation! I was getting my big, pre-lit Christmas tree for a BARGAIN and the nice man at the yard sale was going to get his real tree!!! So, he helped me load the tree into the car (it actually took two cars to transport it. Good thing my sister-in-law was with me that day!) and off I went! I LOVE my new BIG Christmas tree!! It's so big we had to move furniture to make it fit!! Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!!!!!!!!!