Our Tree

Last year, we didn't worry about buying a big Christmas tree because we spent the holiday season in California with my family. I did find a 2' tree at Good Will that I put on the dining room table, and we inherited a 3' fiber-optic tree (impressive huh?) from our adopted Grandma-- Sister Cronkite. But as much as we love those two trees, we knew we wanted a big Christmas tree this year since we will be celebrating at home with the new baby (if he comes) and my mom. 

We took advantage of a sale at Target and bought a 7.5' unlit tree. Crazy as it sounds, Brent actually wanted to string the lights on the tree! As a kid, my family always got a fresh Christmas tree and putting the lights on it was an undesirable task for my dad. Little did I realize, it's actually more work to fluff a fake Christmas tree than it is to put on the lights. It took over 45 minutes to bend out all the branches to make this tree look full! 

Phase 1 

(Brent threw the lights on at the stage just to be silly. Notice my feet in the bottom left-hand corner. Yes, I did watch him do all the work.)

Phase 2

(Starting the process of fluffing the tree. (Notice our wet bar--straight from the 70s-- behind the tree. ha!))

Phase 3

(Forty-five minutes later. . . and after I actually did join in to help on the fluffing. . . we realize that one of the boxes of lights we bought has a WHITE cord. Dang it. The lights only extend 3/4 of the way up the tree. That's okay because we're too exhausted to decorate anyway. )

The Final Product 

(Hear angels singing in the background. And notice the empty car seat under the tree!)

The icicle ornaments are my favorite part!

Merry Christmas!