Bring on Christmas Decorations

Scott tradition has held that Christmas decor comes out the Monday after Thanksgiving. I brought stuff over the Saturday after, but we didn't put anything up until Monday. Eric decided he wanted a different tree this year, one that would be easier to hang upside down, that we wouldn't have to rewire to make it hang like it would if it were right side up. That would be nice, but I didn't want to spend money we didn't have, but I also didn't want to have to spend hours working the tree.

Off to Menard's we went. Eric had to order windows for one of the rentals anyway, and they were on sale, so we made a trip of it that Saturday. Got the windows and got a tree that had branches that clipped into place instead of being already connected to the tree ready to fall into place. We were able to take the trunk, flip it and then clip the branches in upside down. That way they didn't droop and I just had to use a little wire to keep the ring of branches in an even circle. It went much faster.

The tree was hung Saturday evening and we were ready to decorate Monday evening. I laid out different ornaments, after putting the lights into the tree, and the kids took turns hanging their ornaments. I didn't try to get all the ornaments on the tree this year, in fact, there were many that stayed in their boxes because I didn't want to have to repack them all. The kids mentioned that there were fewer ornaments up, but the tree looked decorated enough; no one but us would notice.

After an hour of listening to Christmas music and decorating, we had our finished product.

I have a small collection of nativities from over the years. This year, instead of placing them around the house, as we had to do some rearranging of furniture and ended up putting the end tables on top of each other, I set up my own little nativity nook.

My mom got me the knock-off Lego nativity for my birthday, which the kids helped me put together. Next year I'll have a few more to add. :)