Deck The Halls

We waited a full 10 days to after Thanksgiving to pull the tree out this year, but had just as much fun as ever decorating it.  We will be staying home for the holidays this year so Jason can finish up his thesis, and we are really excited about it.  It will be so nice not having to coordinate with Santa Claus to get the right presents at the right house in time, packing up the car or even making the 24 hour drive.  We will miss our families, of course, but we're trying to find the joy in staying home as best we can.  Plus Jason's mom will be coming out to visit us after Christmas, so we'll still get a bit of family at the holidays.

Leah was insistent that it was her year to hang the star- a privilege that the other kids didn't seem to care much about this year.

 Most of our new ornaments this year reflected our wonderful Disney trip- a cruise ship, a shell, Cinderella's castle, even Mickey and Minnie ornaments arrived by mail yesterday.  We also added a wise old owl from our weekend getaway to Indy and a mini Gateway Arch from our new year stop in St. Louis.  My mom also sent us some fancy, glittery ornaments to add to the tree.

Something about the glow of the Christmas tree makes the house seem warmer and happier, although not exactly more peaceful.  We have three kids this year- instead of two kids and a baby- so life is generally lived at full energy and full volume.  The first ornament broke at 9:21 the morning that we pulled the decorations out, but that is just the stage of life we're in right now.  Our tree has bare spots, 4 or 5 ornaments grouped on one branch, and half of it is stringed up with some gold beads that we received from our Chinese Indiana grandma.  And I love it that way.  It's certainly not the most fashionable tree I've seen, but it's a great representation of our lives and all the things that are important to us right now.

Our traditional hot cocoa in front of the tree picture was a marginal success- mostly because we didn't let the kids have their mugs until they were sitting at the table!