Decking out the Tree

This past Monday and Tuesday we spent decorating the house for Christmas. I used to be able to get it all done in one day, but the last couple of years it has taken me two! I wonder why? So, we didn't get to the tree for family night like the plan was, but Tuesday night seemed to work out better. Dad's plans for church meetings fell through, which made it even more perfect since he was able to be there. It was very interesting this year, putting decorations on the tree, having the boys take them off the tree, and putting them back on. I mainly have simple, homemade looking ornaments made out of wood or cloth, so none of them are breakable. The few "nice" ornaments I have, which might be a little more fragile get put up at the tippy top of the tree! We don't have many expensive ornaments like I mentioned, but a fun tradition we have started the last few years (because of all our travels) is that we pick up an ornament from the places we have been. This year, our new ornament was a little cable car replica from San Fransisco.

Digging out the ornaments and picking out the ones they want to put on is a fierce competition in our family. I store all the ornaments in Ziploc bags, three to be exact, and then the girls get to pick which bag of ornaments they want to put on the tree.
Hunter liked the little stuffed gingerbread men. He has a fetish for soft, stuffed toys.

Jack liked the lights. Two years ago we retired our little $20 Walmart tree, and bought this gorgeous pre-lit tree. We love it, it is so easy to put up, gone are all the "arguments" stringing the lights can cause! luckily the lights don't come off easily, but Jack is persistent...he may pull one off yet.

Corralling the boys was a full time job.

We had pizza for dinner...can you tell?

Dad and Jack putting up the star, the final touch!

This is what Hunter did most of the night. He wasn't feeling very well, and he loves my soft, velvet like pillows that go on my couch. He spent most of the night laying on them, watching us trim the tree. Poor guy, He looks in Ok spirits here though.

So the tree is trimmed and the stockings are hung! I will post pictures of the finished product in another post, and I will also post pictures of our idea to "protect" the tree from the boys!