FINALLY got our tree decorated!

Yes, I can admit it... our Christmas tree stood bare for a whole week in our living room. Well, not totally bare... it had lights on it. And the star. But that is it. No ornaments. Nothing. For a week. *sigh*  

Yes, if you've been following me since the beginning, you won't be surprised by this. It tends to happen quite a bit in this house... where things just SIT and SIT... for a while. Such as HERE and HERE. Yes, with both the Heela and I working full-time and adding 2 pre-schoolers into the mix, "free time" is just scarce. But, it IS what it IS and we've grown to just deal with it. :)

So 2 Sundays ago, we committed to getting our tree. We usually go to the local church and pick one out, but this year we decided to go to a nearby Farm/Orchard and cut one down ourselves. It was a chilly day so we got the girls bundled up and tried to convince them this would be FUN! LOL. (But it didn't really take too much convincing and they had a blast).

We found a good candidate fairly quickly so the Heela got down and dirty for the cutting. The farm provides handsaws for people to use, but the Heela had the BRILLIANT idea to bring his battery powered Black&Decker to make the job super easy and fast. It cut like BUTTA! :)

Meanwhile, the girls had fun frolicking in the field.

Showing me the cool grass (aka weeds) they found

SweetPea pokes Boogey in the eye with her grass (on purpose!!) as Mommy gets photo evidence of the crime :)

We managed to get the tree in the stand that very afternoon and later that night, the Heela got the lights on. And the star.

And then it SAT and SAT and SAT.

*sigh*

For a whole week.

*double sigh*

In our defense, we had an appointment on Monday night. Then the Heela worked late on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then I worked late on Thursday. And then on Friday we had to go to the Heela's office holiday party. So FINALLY, on Saturday evening, we were able to dig out the ornaments and get them on the tree.

TADAA!!

(by the way, those cute stars in the transom window were from the Dollar Tree and are so fun and glittery!)

As you'll notice, we don't decorate our tree in a very fancy/traditional way. There are no bows... nor tinsel... nor garland. And... the ornaments are all non-matching. And... there are only a handful of glass balls. And... I LOVE it! :)

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments:

This is a carved pod of some sort. Can't recall what kind, but I think this guy is so cute! My cousin gave him to me after a trip abroad years ago.

I have 2 of these ceramic "William" hippos from the Met. My parents have a reproduction of this statue in their house so this ornament brings back lots of good memories from my childhood.

This is a real egg that is beautifully decorated.  I bought it in Maui when I had to go there for work 5 years ago.

This is one of the first ornaments my mom gave me after I moved out on my own. It's a real sanddollar. Love it.

From a set my Mother-in-Law gave us the year we got married.

I grew up on Long Island so I love the beach. This is a real starfish, painted as Santa - so cute!

This ceramic penguin is from a set of 4. I bought the set for my first real tree after moving into my own place and they are so fun and full of character.

I made this in 1979 (yes I'm aging myself!) and wrote my name on the back. Lots of sentiments with this old guy!

I bought this glass ornament for Sweetpea the year she was born. Her nursery was decorated with Classic Pooh so it is the perfect memory for that first Christmas with her.

I bought this for Boogey the year she was born. Her nursery had a jungle theme and she still has a sweet giraffe photo on her wall.

The Heela loooooooves this Movie. He wanted a real lamp. I compromised with the ornament. LOL

Another hommage to a great movie. "You'll shoot yer eye out!"

These are my all-time favorites. My mom bought these about 30 years ago at a church fair and gave them to my aunt. Last time we were there, my aunt passed them on to me (much to my cousin's dismay!). I love love love this sweet Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

And here is another shot of the tree.

I think the kitty scratch pad really completes the look! LOL!!!

Now we just need to wait for Santa to load it up!!


Is your tree ready? Do you go fancy/traditional? Or sentimental mish-mosh like us?