The tree is up, the lights aglow.

The day after Thanksgiving we put up our tree and our lights. I was excited that this year, Thanksgiving was on the 22nd, which meant that we'd get to have our decorations up for a long time. Things come right down after Christmas so it's fun to get things set up in our new house.

We put lights up outside. First house on the block. That's how we do in our new neighborhood. Got the ball rolling as our neighbors put their lights up over the long weekend. 

(Note we did not a single bit of Black Friday shopping)

All that decorating work definitely deserved some hot cocoa!

Last holiday season, our friends Andrew and Maria gave us these awesome hologram glasses. You look at Christmas lights wearing these babies and each light turns into either a reindeer or a snowman!

We have two stars. A blue one and a red one. For many years we (by we I do mean "I") would decorate our tree keeping with the theme. I would keep the "weird" ornaments in the back if even letting them on the tree at all. Silly right? It's my Faux-C-D... Like OCDish. The right amount of pinecones, ribbons or bows. I now have children, children who have learned to love decorating for the holidays as much as their parents.  So aside from the star, we still alternate red and blue since i helps to remind us who's turn it is to put it up top, we let them exercise creative freedom. After they go to bed, we do a little moving to break of the 3' and 4' clusters.

 These kiddos have super special ornaments that they receive every year from their Papa Ron. He orders special Lenox ornaments, a different character for each grandchild. JT has the nutcrackers and HeaBug has the reindeer. Those are the first to go on the tree. We've collected quite the array over the 13 Christmases that we've spent together.

Even Uncle Edward got in on the decorating. We kicked off our Christmas season by watching our FAVORITE, Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Even the kiddos sit through this one. May your days be Merry and Bright!