Come on little helper. Put your back into it. Lift! Lift!
Eventually the tree made it inside.
And got all set up.
Time to fluff the branches.
Ian's really good about wearing the hats I pick out to Disneyland. This is not one of those hats, but he found it when we were pulling out decorations and wanted to wear it.
Theresa had the Christmas music playing while we put all the ornaments on the tree. The kids hanging Gram's clothespin soldier and clothespin reindeer.
They got these blue and pink balloons with their names on them 2 years ago at Bronners.
They wanted to make sure they were hanging close together.
I put the hooks on and the kids would hang them on the tree.
Alright mister barefeet. Hold still while I pick you up.
Ian - I wasn't doing anything, it just accidentally fell.
Finally we top it off with the star.
Nice work kids. The tree looks great.
And even more beautiful when the lights are turned on.
Love these kinds of shots.
Next, it was time to hang the stockings above the fireplace. Even though we live in California, I still appreciate having a fire to sit in front of every once in a while.
Showing off some Christmas treats. Candy canes for the kids, my favorite chocolate orange, and T just loves Dove peppermint bark.
On December 1st it was time to open the first gifts of Christmas. This one came in the mail from Gram. It was a bunch of Christmas books! We'll read these every night leading up to Christmas!
Under the tree were 2 more presents ready to be opened.
Ian said All could help him open his, and then she returned the favor, letting Ian help open hers.
They're Lego Advent Calendars! Ian has a Star Wars one and Alli has Lego Friends.
Every night they were excited to have a little Lego project to put together.
One last addition to the tree, and something I've been wanting to do for years now. I've had the monorail for a few years now. The train set is new.
The kids had a lot of fun running both at the same time, and having the sound effects from both going at the same time.
You did Walt proud with the train! Spectacular, "galactic" tree shot with the lights on...nice effect! Did someone make those stockings since they look so personalized? Neat idea to have the Santa "stocking hooks" to hold them up, too. Thanks for the "inside" view!!
ReplyDeleteThose stockings are courtesy of Walmart a few years ago. We bought 3 with the names we knew, and bought an extra stocking just in case. When Alli came along, we found a local sewing shop and matched the font.
DeleteThose stocking hooks keep me from having to put nails in the fireplace.