O Christmas Tree

The girls have been asking about Christmas since Halloween was over. Thanks for the brainwashing, Target! But the good thing about that was it reminded me that Garden Ridge has their Christmas trees 50% off between Halloween and Thanksgiving. I had decided that this year everyone in our family could be trusted with a full size tree! No more setting the 4 foot one on an end table and hoping it didn't lean too much to one side. Chad and I had the good sense to set it up the night before without any little elves "helping" and surprised the girls with it in the morning. We ate pancakes, I drank A LOT of coffee, and we decked the halls. While working on the tree, of course we turned on some Christmas music. Elliott did not care for the original words to "O Christmas Tree" and made up her own: O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, I hope you are a Christmas tree." Catchy, no?

The "Before" shot

Trying to help Chico catch the holiday spirit. He was upset that we moved his bed.

Hard at work.

Abbey gets ready to hang two of her special ornaments. She made the green wreath last year with glue, green paint and shredded wheat, and her sweet kindergarten picture is in the middle.

Finally! A tree that will hold up our big star without tipping over!

The finished tree, and our Christmas quilt.

The girls did well with decorating (of course I still went back and rearranged a lot of ornaments) and have mostly left them on the tree. They have figured out how to squeeze between the tree and the recliner there on the left to turn the lights on and off. (Yes, we have a recliner right by our tree. If you are an interior designer, I apologize.) We also temporarily relocated all the "Asian knick-knacks" on our bookshelf to make room for "Christmas knick-knacks." There is still space on the top shelf if anyone wants to send me something sparkly. :0)

From nesting Santa dolls, to Japanese pop-up greeting cards, to a singing-and-dancing Penguin, we've got it all!

Hope everyone is enjoying getting ready for Christmas!