Deck the Halls!

We don't actually have too many halls in our house to deck, but we had fun making the rest of the house festive for the holidays.

The Mission:  with the help of one husband and two rambunctious children, transform our not-too-bad-lookin' artificial tree into a brilliant display of twinkling white lights and shiny gold ribbon with highlights of red and gold glitter.

The first phase of The Mission:  start digging to see what can be found.  Most of our ornaments and decorations are hand me downs from friends and family, but I love that everything is new to the kids!

Stringing the lights.  Caleb was a big help reaching behind the tree in the tight spot to hand them back to Josh.  The lights aren't straight...but they're perfect!

Then we moved to the little tree in the bay window.  This is the tree that the kids got to decorate all on their own, starting with the long paper chain we made.

Then back to the big tree to start winding the ribbon.  Again, Caleb was behind the tree in the tight spot to hand it around.  (This is a VERY rare picture, as it has me in it.  It will probably be a VERY LONG time before you see another!)  And where do you suppose Sarah has been this whole time?  I ddin't get a picture, but she was in the recliner, legs crossed, reading "The Furrow", some kind of farm magazine...



After supper and bath time, we gave the kids permission to start digging in the ornamnet box.  With the thrill of surprise of the ornament box, Sarah decided that fun was calling her name and decided to put away her heavy reading.





Ta daaaa da daaaaaaaa!  The ornaments.  What fun for the little ones!




Caleb hanging a few....



Sarah hanging a few.....



And the finished project:  a four foot multicolored prelit tree adorned with John Deere, Santa and an occasional Homer Simpson themed ornaments.  (Aka, the ornaments I didn't want on my 'pretty' tree!)




Well, it IS called a stocking!  (Notice Sarah's magazine in the background.)



Caleb looked forward to putting the angel on the tree all evening.

We held off on putting the rest of the glittery ornaments on the tree until after the kids went to bed.  Not that I was fearful for the ornaments  (they're shatterproof), but I think my kids are dazzling just as they are without being covered in glitter from head to toe.  Santa was there to help me, though! 



Mission accomplished.  I took several pictures trying different things, but for some reason the camera just would not capture the lights.  But it is especially pretty with the lights reflecting off the shiny ornaments and gold ribbon.




We decorated Saturday evening, but I guess Sarah and Santa were still tuckered out the next afternoon.  Their usual Sunday afternoon naps were taken snuggled up in the cozy chair by the lighted tree.