Gettin' Ready

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving weekend is the day after. We actually went skiing that day (see previous post) but we did get to the traditional post-Thanksgiving rituals after the downhill marathon. We set up the boxes and unpacked the tree in record time.

We do the fake tree thing at Christmas and I wish I could say it was because we are so environmentally conscious, but it's mostly for convenience. Last year we had 2 light strands burn out on the tree (one each year for the previous two years). After one strand went out, I let it slide, but I couldn't do two. I decided to replace all the lights on the tree. I researched the different types and went out and bought a bunch of new lights, found some good ones and strung them on the tree. I should have known better when 2 out of the 12 "good strands" didn't work right out of the box, but the rest seemed fine so I put them up. Well, two of those new strands are out this year. They are also on opposite sides of the tree so I can't really hide the "out strand" in the back like I had in the past. Ugh. There really aren't many bad things I think about when pondering Christmas, but stringing lights and packing up the boxes (after New Years) are definitely two of them. I think fruitcake might be third although I warmed up to this a little in Argentina where they serve it all the time (it's called pan dulce...sweet bread). I haven't decided yet if I'm going to relight the tree again this year. Poor kids...what a slacker dad.

Beth, Isabel and Owen all mostly decorated the tree on their own which was a little bit of a surprise. They kind of did it while I was bringing boxes up from downstairs. We have one box of ornaments which I brought up first. Beth distributed them and the kids did a pretty good job of hanging...even Owen. There was of course a "kid line" kind of like the tree line on the mountains where the ornaments just stopped due to pediatric height restriction. Dad had to help out a little above this and Isabel put the top ornament on (it's not really a star, more of a pointy decoration). Besides a little stress when I saw glass ornaments on the ground with a barefoot three year old marching around, I was very happy with the experience.

Next was the nativity scene which comes all the way from Oberammergau courtesy of Maama and Popop. We love it and the kids really enjoy putting up each piece. My favorite is...the camel. Yes, you may think it would be a different piece, but I really love the camel. It's also a good favorite because the kids tend to lobby for the pieces a little more relevant to the the birth story. I also remember putting up the nativity scene when I was younger...great memories.

Finally we put on some upbeat Christmas songs and danced around the living room. We broke down and got semi-matching pjs this year which I highly recommend. You just can't all dress up alike like that and not have a good time. We've done the dress up thing many times since, and the energy is infectious.

The kids are doing the countdown and mom and dad are looking through catalogs. Owen also has a birthday coming up so we're getting that going as well. It's a busy but wonderful time of year (some would say the most wonderful time and I may have to agree).

More photos here.