Tree Trimming

Our annual Tree trimming usually happens on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We always listen to Michael W. Smith's "Christmastime" CD and have pizza when we are done.
This year Shawn decided to put the tree together on his own and it took him only about 20 minutes as compared to an hour when the kids help. And they usually only like putting on 1 or 2 branches anyway!

I usually put on the lights and I have been able to cut my time down to about an hour instead of 3! It amazes me how all the lights worked last year, you take them off the tree, put them in a tub, and then when you get them out the following year, half of them don't work! I had 5 strands of dead lights. So...I walked over to CVS and they didn't have any more white lights. So...I came home and decided to drive to Walgreens. Fortunately they had Buy 1 get 1. Meanwhile, as I am trying to find enough lights for the half decorated tree, Shawn has been trying to put up icicles lights on the a-frame of our house. He got halfway done and realized that the ladder wasn't long enough so he took them down. This was about a 2 hour process!
I finally get the lights I need and finish decorating the tree. I went downstairs to get a bag of decorations and what do I find? Three more boxes of lights! Guess I didn't need that trip to Walgreens afterall! GRRRRR.....

Caleb picked a great time to start crawling! He of course went right for the tree and kept saying "bebe", his word for pretty. I love that little finger that points to everything and says either "Wow" or "Bebe"!








I bought the girls some ornaments that had candy in them and they loved it! This is the only ornament they can take on and off the tree, which of course is a BIG novelty!










This is Caleb's new way of communicating....making this face and saying "Ohhhhhh". This usually happens when he doesn't like something, he is hurt, or he wants mommy! Precious isn't it?!:)






Shawn has been wanting a Star for the top of our tree for a while so this year he got one!










I was very surprised how much the girls wanted to help decorate the tree. Last year they put on about 10 ornaments each and they were done. This year they helped with the entire thing! So much difference a year makes!