Christmastime [was] Here -- Part I

Our Christmas tree, finally up and decorated after much drama and stress.

 

I thought we'd go small this year, save a few bucks and not overwhelm our living room. I didn't realize until it was wrapped and ready to go that they were priced by variety, not size. Oops! there goes the "save a few bucks" plan. When we were ready to set it up, we discovered a crack in the tree stand. So it spent a few redneck days propped in the corner in a bright orange bucket. Classy huh?
 

 After 2 trips to the store we were the proud owners of a brand spanking new tree stand with bolts too short to even reach the skinny truck of our dainty little tree. The husbands patience may or may not have been running a bit thin by the time he screwed extra pieces of wood on either side and made 2 trips to the hardware store for bigger bolts but finally that baby was upright...until we started to add lights and garland. Sigh. In the end, she was a very pretty tree. I decided to stick with neutrals this year and I loved the way it turned out. My kids did not agree, they were a tad bitter that I ignored those pretty red balls.

This was my moment of enlightenment this year. I admit to being a little stingy about the Christmas tree decorating at my house. I just don't have the stamina to allow a 5 year old to arrange all the ornaments in a 18 inch space. This year I gave them this little yard sale tree and some sturdy ornaments and made it there tree. The arranged and rearranged to their little hearts connect, with all the red they could find! Bingo. This tradition will live on another year.

 The Mr. dutifully adds sparkling charms to our rustic barn and charming cottage. Our big front porch just begs for icicle  lights. Even he admits that they are pretty enough to be worth the hassle.

While he spruces up the outside, I tackle the indoors. My {super} limited chalkboard skills struggled for several hours to pull this off.

My first grader got inspired and whipped out his own version in less than half an hour. He insisted he needed water to dip his chalk in too. =)

We made a few special treats, although not nearly as many as most years. I had some fun experimenting with my peppermint essential oil. Mmm!

Peppermint Stripe Popcorn. 

Our Christmas celebrations took us to the cabin with family for a long weekend before Christmas. It was a glorious four days of "nothing to do" in the midst of crazy busy preparations and parties. We drank coffee, played games, read, drank coffee, slept in, snacked, relaxed and drank another cup of coffee. That poor coffee maker didn't know what hit it.

We let the kids act out the Christmas story. Finally we have a "Mary" after 8 boys in the family. She was quite pleased with her roll as "Jesus Loves Me's" Mommy. (That's what she says instead of Baby Jesus, I hope no one ever corrects her!)

So it wasn't quite Broadway but they had fun and I heard they're making a movie out of it, special thanks to the only cousin not pictured and his new ipad.

We returned from our relaxing paradise on Monday with 36 hours to finish wrapping and preparing for Christmas day. Coming up in the next post, some of our favorite family traditions.