It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Finally!

The lights went up late this year for various reasons. The neighbors were all becoming very concerned but I continued to assure them that the night would come when the blinding spectacle that is the front of our house would make it's emergence. To make everyone even happier, this year I used a latter to hang the lights instead of my traditional method of walking around the roof and hanging off the edges of the gutters. It also helped that the weather warmed up a bit on Saturday and the temperatures sored way up into the 40˚s (sarcasm).

We also spent a portion of the weekend putting up our tree and hanging the decorations. Opening the storage boxes full of our hibernating ornaments is like greeting old friends. Many of the bauble have special memories for all of us such as the start of our relationship, our wedding, births and family vacations. The kids have just as much fun rediscover the little trinkets as they do opening their gifts...almost, but not quite.


We had one change to our Christmas tradition. This year we have abandoned our "White Lights Only" tree and for the first time ever, added color lights. This made Sam and Hannah very happy, Abby... not so much. She was a good sport though and learned that the holidays are not only about exchanging gifts but also about the spirit of compromise.

In the end, the kids did a super job of decorating our tree. Now the room smells heavenly with the mixture of Pine and wood stove.

Let the Holidays Begin!