After Ben woke up from a three-hour nap this morning (his cold is terrible), we had lunch, and then I tackled the tree. The shaping of the branches took an hour, and I suffered numerous scratches all over my hands and arms (note to self: wear long sleeves next year).
The lights were annoying and difficult. It seemed much easier when I was a youth, but maybe my standards were just lower.
I plugged in the lights before I put them on the tree so I could see where I was putting them. Ben was in love with them, especially the colored ones. He kept putting them in his mouth, thinking they were candy and would taste as yummy as they look.
I think I'll be spending the next two weeks yelling at Ben to keep away from the tree and putting him in time out when he doesn't listen. But I hope he loves the tree anyway and will love me even more because I let him have this experience. We'll be buying some construction paper so we can create some ornaments.
Christmas Tree, Mathis style. The bow is temporary until I find something more suitable. There's a skirt under the tree now. Maybe Ben wouldn't think it was a toy if I didn't put it right next to his toys.
That's a toy hammer in Ben's hand. He was banging on the branches during the whole process. Now we can say he "built" our tree.
Anna "helped" too. She slept through a lot of the tree-putting-up activity, but woke up for the lights. She screamed and wailed like someone was torturing her. And instead of picking her up and comforting her, I took this picture.
Nothing says "Time to relax" like a boy watching VeggieTales. I am not full of the Christmas spirit, so I will now take my grumpy self into the kitchen to bake a batch of fudge brownies. Happy Freakin' Holidays, everyone!
