Putting up the Christmas Tree...no matter what!

(sorry this is long, bear with me - it is for the family history book)

It is our tradition to put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. I know my mother never worried about it, but for me, I am done with pumpkins and turkeys and ready to move on to Christmas. There have been years that it hasn't happened, especially 2000 and 2001 when I had a less-than-one-month-old to exhaust and unmotivated me. If I'm going to put the effort into decorating, I want to enjoy it for five or so weeks, not just one or two weeks.

Yesterday, on Thanksgiving, I had a migraine and severe vertigo so I was drugged up and a little 'on edge' (so I was told).

This morning, I decided I needed to get out of the house and I decided to venture out into the Black Friday abyss. I went to Target and the lines looked eternal, but really they went quickly and I only waited about 35 minutes (if that sounds terrible, you should have seen how long the lines were, I was expecting much longer). I told Jason I was only going to be gone an hour-and-a-half and I was already past that time frame, but I decided to go to Kohl's also, hoping to complete my shopping (which I did for the most part). I waited in line at Kohl's for an hour and ten minutes. Insane, I know!

Anyway, it had been a long morning - no complaints though, I had fun (at Kohl's I was in front of and behind very fun, animated ladies in line that made the time pass very quickly).

I brought home Wendy's for a late lunch, which, hopefully, made up for my tardiness. The kids knew we were going to do the tree and they were very ready to get started.

After lunch I went out to get all the packages out of the van only to notice a 'drawing' in the back door of the van. And I mean, in the back door - literally. Apparently, some time in the past week, Tavis had gotten a sharp rock and etched some drawings into the paint of the door. This began my blood curdling, but Daddy was still home (he was heading to play indoor hockey) so he got to handle it.

After that, Tavis wasn't interested in putting up the tree. He went out to ride his bike, while Mollee, Daegan and Capps helped put up the tree - I was in no mood to deal with mopey so I let him go.

Obviously, we have a fake tree. Here I am nailing down the tree base so that it doesn't 'accidentally get knocked over' at some point during the season. If you have carpet you don't ever see the nail holes afterwards.

I love the idea of a real tree, but I don't want it to die before Christmas and I'm a little nervous about my allergies. I usually put the tree together and get the lights on before the kids get involved, but this year I just let them at it. They matched up the rows of branches while I did the lights - they actually did a great job and are hired for next year (unless I get a pre-lit tree that I'm always dreaming about).

After building the tree and hanging the lights I decided to wait for Daddy to do the ornaments after dinner - the kids all have their own box of ornaments that they get to put on the tree each year and I try to make a big deal out of it. I let the kids play outside for awhile, but Mac came in with a stinky diaper and soaking wet from some water he had found to play with - and no one knew anything about it! Everyone came in and I made hot cocoa as a treat (why do I do these things to myself?). Mac got chocolate milk in a mug instead, which was a good thing because it ended up in his lap.

And here is pitiful Mac when the chocolate was gone.

I had to take a time-out away from the children to de-stress, but I then decided (maybe in hopes of a early bedtime?) that everybody needed a bath and pjs before Daddy got home and before dinner. Mac and Capps went first, but Tavis and Daegan (the older boys) somehow managed to make a pool of the bathroom floor, and I don't mean a few splashes on the floor. Again (by the grace of God) Daddy got home right about that time and got to deal with it.

We had PB&J or soup for dinner (mommy was in no state-of-mind to cook). Then we decorated the tree and the house! The kids are funny because certain decorations have to go in the same spot every year, which is fine by me for now. No matter how much stress they can cause me in one day, I love for them to be involved in these traditions. That is one reason why most of our ornaments are on the bottom half of the tree - and I leave it like that (unless the vacuum accidently knocks it off and I decide to put it somewhere else).Mac always wants to say "cheese" and then as soon as you snap it he yells, "let me see" - the world of digital.And for some reason, Capps was insistent upon getting a picture with this ornament (his 'Baby's first Christmas' ornament).Here is the tree decorated with lights and ornaments, tomorrow it will magically get covered with icicles.It has been a long day and it is getting late. The kids were in bed by 7:45 (my plan worked) and, instead of getting to bed early myself, I'm sitting in front of blog world.