O Christmas Tree

It's that time of year again. Time to push back the annihilated turkey carcass and pull out the Christmas decorations. My neighbors have already set up the fake lighted deer and the huge massive snow globes with Frosty in them.
I am a big fan of the less is more approach. A simple wreath and a few tasteful white lights suites me. But I have to admire the gung-ho Christmas enthusiast who spends several thousand dollars on light displays and plastic critters.
Last year, a family that lived just north of us went a little crazy. You see, the dad was an engineer. Do you know what happens when you give an engineer free reign with the Christmas lights? Things get a little crazy. This guy had about a million lights on his house, synchronized to electronic type music. It was something to see. In fact, so many people wanted to see it that the city asked him to please turn off the display. He was causing traffic problems in his neighborhood. He lived in a standard American sub-division. Wouldn't you just LOVE to be his neighbor? His display was so impressive that he was featured on the Today show. I'm just wondering if he is going to do it again?
I don't ever remember my family going over the top at Christmas with the decorations. At most, I think we just strung a few multi-colored lights around the windows, trees, or whatever happened to be handy.
We always had the fresh Christmas tree. We would travel to the nearest tree lot and pick one out. We always argued about what tree we were going to get. Then the tree man would lash the tree on top of our 1982 escort and away we would go. When we got home, it was with much grumbling and mumbling that dad finally got the tree into the stand. One year, the tree was horribly bent, and we had to tie it up with some wire. Another year, our cat Hoggles decided that it was a good place to hang out. He would piss all over the tree, marking his territory. It was a little rank. This cat also had issues, so he would hide in the tree, and then pounce out and attack your ankles. That was a great cat.
I found quite by accident several years ago that I'm actually allergic to live Christmas trees. I was sleeping on the couch at a family members house with my face about tree feet away from the tree. I had a terrible allergy attack, and could barely open my eyes. I was a mess.
So now we have a lovely fake tree. Last year, I upgraded and bought the tree with the lights already on it. All I have to do is take it out of the box and plug it in. It's the best invention ever.
My son has discovered the tree this year. Luckily, I had the foresight to buy all plastic ornaments. He likes to pull them off and throw them around the room. Last night, I picked up about 10 bulbs and reattached them to the tree. He has also decided that he really likes the plastic bead garland I have on the tree, and throws a fit every time because he can't quite figure out how to get it off.
I guess in a few years I'll be able to put the fancy glass ornaments on. Until then, I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it.
Happy Holidays!

Bedrooms and Bathrooms

I've been working on getting the house in order lately. Maybe it's a nesting thing. My mother-in-law came over and helped finish the nursery.

I wanted the baby's room it to be just perfect. My son was early, and with the following chaos, I never really got to do the nursery the way I wanted. Luckily, it had been previously painted blue, so at least it wasn't just plain white.


I also didn't want it to be too pinky pink. So I picked out a nice pale purple color and some lovely decals. I went with the decals because I'm too lazy to do stenciling and I didn't want to mess with borders. Plus, once she gets a little older, we can just peel them off. Easy!

So we took a grand trip to the fabric store and bought yards and yards of pretty frilly eyelet and fabric. Luckily, my mother-in-law is really good at that kind of thing. When I start a craft project, I usually end up over buying fabric.

So we spent the weekend planning cutting and sewing. I think that it turned out fabulous. Now we just need the star to make an appearance.

In other news, we are starting to THINK about potty training my son. I’m really not pushing it, but we bought a potty and put in a bathroom. He has been ignoring it, but today decided to test it out. I made sure to make a big deal about it. Now his potty is his favorite place to sit.

My little cowardly lion

Here are some pictures of my son dressed up like a lion for Halloween. I was surprized that he actually consented to wear the mane/hat. He was cute as a button. We took to a few houses, and he even got to munch on his first candy bar, a Twix. He loved it. He had chocolate all over his hands and face. He got a little scared at all the strangely dressed kids that came to our door. He was my little cowardly lion. It would have been perfect if I had dressed up like Dorothy, and my husband the tin man, but we didn't get that together.