December 3rd - Whew! What a Wild Day!

Bill didn't have a job scheduled today, so we decided it was time to get the Christmas stuff done.  First stop was to get a tree.  We were the only tree shoppers at Home Depot when we arrived.  They had just put out the trees that had just come in, so we got our choice of the lot.  The first tree we looked at was fine with me, but Bill thought we needed something taller - we don't agree on that, but I'm not about to make it an issue.  So, the next tree he picks is huge.  It is a good looking tree, but huge!  I suggested that it was way too tall, but I was overruled.  Therefore, we now have a tree that is way too large for our small house!  Oh, well.

We got the tree home, in the house, set up in the tree stand - none of which was a snap, because the thing is so huge!  Once the tree was standing, we brought all the Christmas boxes down from the attic.  There are so many!  Fortunately, I marked them really well last year when we put things away, so it was easy to find the lights.  Bill's job is putting on the lights, so we got to work doing that.  I checked the lights and untangled them, etc.  We went through the box with the lights from last years' tree and then started in on the box with the lights we used outside last year.  I said it is a huge tree!  We finally had enough lights on the tree.

Next we moved outside to put lights on the bushes.  We were down to only about 10 boxes of lights left, so we figured that we would not be able to put out as many as before.  We couldn't seem to find cords, etc., so Bill took a break to run to the store.  He needed to do a bank deposit and pick up a couple things at the grocery store anyway, so we did it all in one trip.  About the time he got back, I found a third box of lights that had all the cords, timers, etc, along with some more lights.  He was so happy to get to decorate the bush on the other side of the driveway, too! 

He was close to finishing when Lisa and kids arrived to do a tree decorating Family Home Evening.  It was so nice that they played outside for a while first.  Ashby even went over to Ethan's house next door to see if he could come play.  They had a ball playing in the little playhouse.  We even put some Christmas decorations on it.  Meanwhile, Lisa stepped in and was cooking spaghetti for dinner.  David arrived in time for dinner, so we had a chance to all sit down together for a few minutes.

Then it was time to decorate the tree.  Ashby loved climbing up on the little step stool to put the ornaments up high where Brooks couldn't reach them.  Of course, she wanted to put them even higher, so she got Grandpa to lift her way up to put them way up high.  Brooks had fun running around trying to hang ornaments, too.  Of course, he copies everything Ashby does, so he had to climb the stool and then get lifted up high, too.  We used every ornament we had, including some old plastic things that are usually not used.  Like I said, the tree is huge!

When it was all done, it looked very nice.  We also got all the nativities and the village out.  The rest will wait for another day!

So, now it looks like Christmas at the Cantrell home.  I don't know why we need an eleven foot tree, but it is very pretty!