Finally!

Putting up our tree this year has been quite the hassle. First, we had to find some time when Matt was home to go buy a tree. It is a busy time of year, especially for students, with final projects, papers, and finals. So Matt has been especially busy with school and work has been very busy as well... last week Matt even worked overtime. We finally were able to buy a tree on Thursday, Matt's day off.

Then came the project of putting lights on. We bought a bigger tree than we ever have before, and ran out of lights. So then I had to find a time when I could go to the store to buy some more lights (I don't have a car most days). I made it to Walmart and bought 3 packages of lights, but when I got home and opened them I found out that each package only had plugs on one side of the strand, so I wasn't able to connect the strands. So, Matt stopped at Target on his way home from work the next day and bought some lights. This time when I opened the package I found that he bought icicle lights, which don't work very well on a tree. Sunday we took a break, because we weren't able to go to a store. And first thing Monday morning, Matt headed to Walmart to get some lights. They didn't have any, so then he went to Home Depot, who didn't have any, and finally he went to Target and hit the jackpot. He brought the lights home, and headed off to work. When I went to put on these lights, I had to take off a whole strand of lights because the plugs on the end were not polarized (one side of the plug bigger than the other) but the new lights were, and the two plugs would not fit together. So after I got a strand off, I put a new strand on, and ran out of lights again. Finally I used some creative thinking and problem solving skills to figure out a way to use the strand that I had already taken off, so I wouldn't have to make another trip to the store. Anyway, after 5 trips to 3 different stores, and after 5 DAYS of having a half lit tree, I finally got our tree all the way decorated! It's a good thing Sydney loves it!

The Lights

Our little man Cooper was in charge of helping mommy put the lights on the tree... he kept them from getting all tangled up and loved looking at them. And of course sister Sydney never wants to miss out on a photo shoot! I have decided that I DO NOT LIKE putting lights on the tree... if there is anyone who actually likes the job, you are welcome to come over and put our lights on next year! (hopefully we have plenty!)

The Ornaments

I wanted to do a couple of Christmas projects to keep us busy during our indoor days on this cold month. So we went to Robert's and got a few cheap things to make ornaments and a paper chain garland for our tree. Sydney loved painting the ornaments! You can tell because she wasn't even paying attention to the photo op. Check out her concentration!

The Finished Product!

The end result turned out fabulous if I do say so myself... feel free to play I-Spy and find our homemade ornaments from this year- 2 yellow stars, 1 snow flake, 1 long red and green paper chain, and 1 star tree topper!