We set up our Christmas tree this weekend. I am a little short on patience so we usually add the branches to our hypoallergenic-robot-tree, as a family. We then let Emily add the lights to the tree by herself. Once the lights are on, we get back together as a family and add lights. We often go through this routine in the late evening but we decided to set up the tree during the day and it was so much better!
My video system is all screwed up…click here to see a time-lapse video of our tree going up!
The cat was in the middle of everything and the kids were dancing around with ornaments and branches and the like. We cranked the Christmas music and had a lot of fun! We discovered that we had too many ornaments, a number of which were given directly to the kids by various folks.
This year, we decided to get the kids their own small trees for their rooms. The best part is, we got the trees on sale – half off! It’s pretty cool to drive up to our place now…all three trees are visible when you pull up…plus it lights the walkway a little!
Anyhow, this was probably one of the most pleasant tree decorating experiences ever (remember about my patience?). We didn’t fret about the lights or the arrangement of stuff. In fact, we decided to simplify our decorating and it was fantastic!
I am so glad that the kids are the age they are and that they are so willing to help. They want to make sure they put on equal numbers of branches and ornaments, but they seeing them work together to find equity in it all is pretty great!
We have never decorated outside for some reason but we love to ride around in neighborhoods to see what other people have done. When Isaac was a baby, we used to drive around Nashville and see the lights the same way. Before he could say much, he could say “light”. At Christmas time, he would say, “Light…oh so pretty!”
I am sure that we will start the neighborhood tour this weekend. People seem to be doing a pretty good job of getting out their lights this year…Oh, so pretty!
I can’t wait for Christmas now! Presents are starting to show up under the tree and I have been plowing through the eggnog! The last few years, I have gained several pounds in December and January drinking Southern Comfort brand eggnog. It is non-alcoholic but pretty ding-dang great! Between that and sugar cookies, I am adding to my hibernation weight!
We hauled a few boxes of old Christmas ornaments we had accumulated to the thrift store. Now, if we want a fancy tree, we have to get creative. I’m happy with simple. Mel and Abby are making lots of paper snowflakes though. 🙂
Glad to hear you guys are on the mend. It’s no fun being sick!
Ron
That is one massive bow on the top! Every year we debate about what to put on the top of the tree, but for some reason we’ve never considered a bow. Most years we end up putting three pathetic little cardinals on long sticks, tied together. We’re not sure what else to do with them because they’re supposed to be part of a flower arrangement. We really like birds, but they look so small and pathetic so high up on a tree. A bow seems a better choice, though my **terrible** skills at tying them might mean it’s cardinals again!
Warren, you are more ready than I am. Gonna try to get everything out tomorrow and see what happens. Middle daughter has a snow ball dance tomorrow night and I have a feeling that will take everyones time and talents, if ya know what I mean. We have an old Victrola that we play Christmas records on when we do get a chance to decorate. Maybe this weekend sometime. It’s great that your kids get into it like that.
Chris
Holiday traditions are special, way to go.
We realize each year when we decorate our tree (s) that most of the ornaments are our 2 kids’ ornaments. They are of the age now when they may start wanting them for their own tree and we will be left with the “non-memorable” ornaments!
I hope you two are getting healthy!
I watched the video of you guys putting up your tree. Next year I am calling you guys to help me put up our tree. You all are FAST!!! hee..hee..
Your tree looks really nice. I love the big bow on top of it.
Dora Renee’ Wilkerson
I can’t remember how we got the bow idea but we got it the first year we were married. We went to a big departmet store in Charleston andhad someone tie it for us. It really is beautiful. We never felt good about the angel or Santa etc sitting gingerly on the tree-top (not that there’s anything wrong with that!)
Like everyone, we accumulate more stuff every year. We did a major hoe-out and found that our house rose 6 inches from the released weight on the foundation! Well, we hauled out a ton of junk anyhow. It seems to be our theme this year…simplify the clutter in our lives. Christmas was no exception. We still commercialize it some but we do not go hog wild on gift giving and we’ve found that somehow, the kids seem to survive. It certainly makes it more pleasent for us as well!
I want to do more of the time-lapse pictures. It was fun to do, though we had a hard time keeping Isaac from jumping into the camera view CONSTANTLY hoping he’d get into a frame! It was fun but I need to take the pics more often to make a longer sequence. We shot every 3 mintes for 1:20 I think. I have a cheap-o webcam that does it automatically. Anyhow, we’ll do more later when I find something interesting!
Lol, I love this post! Warren, you sound so very excited about Christmas. I love it. 🙂
We haven’t done anything Christmas-y yet, but…we will eventually. I hope!
Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm. 🙂
Thanks for letting me know about your favourite books!
I love the Foxfire books, too. I’ve just read two of them, but I know there are a lot more…
Laura Jane – I am working on a project that I discovered in Foxfire 3. I will probably post on it next week sometime. Most of the time, those books are cool for a general read but I wish they had a little more “how-to”. Still, I dig the ideas they provide!
You are more ready than we are. The tree is on the list for this week……maybe early next week……
Pretty tree!
Reading your comments about the Foxfire books-love them all-makes me wish I could visit those folks who were in them-actually a few people I know are mentioned in one or two of the books. Rayburn Co. Georgia, where they were compiled, is a little over an hour from here.
KB – We still dont’ have allof the boxes put away from the decorations. It seems like we can never actually get done decorating!
Tipper – That’s really cool that you know a few of the folks. I would love to see a similar book series done again. There is still a lot of info that could be gathered with some additional more recent input. Anyhow, I can’t wait to debut my project inspired by Foxfire !