Meet Charlie

Decorating the tree was a week long process. First we brought the thirsty tree in from the mountains and let it soak up some water. The next day we positioned it on our living room to where we wanted. The third day was the hardest...Jeff braved the crawl space spiders and all to pull out the plastic bins full of supplies. The following day we strung the lights then while the kids were sleeping Jeff and I hung the majority of ornaments. Ernie left a couple ornaments for the kids the following morning and finally Friday morning the tree was complete!

 I love our lights, there isn't anything too special about them but they have a different shape that I like.

I'm not the only one that likes the lights of course. We could only take a couple shots since JJ liked them so much he was constantly shoving them in his mouth.

 I think each tree we get has its own uniqueness and personality so I've decided we're going to start naming them. Meet Charlie. Isn't she a beauty?

The kids were pretty busy the night of trimming the tree. They stayed up late enough to string the lights and help with bagged lunches but had to miss out on hanging the ornaments. When we came down the stairs the following morning they were excited to see the finished product.

JJ couldn't wait to crawl over and check things out for himself.

 Johanna and JJ both have jingle bells from their first Christmas. They both had fun shaking them obsessively.

 

Then they took turns hanging their ornaments from St. Nicks. Okay, really JJ took some time pulling down various ornaments while Johanna hung both hers and her brothers.

 Here is Johanna's Mickey she meticulously picked out at the store.

Here is JJ's first Christmas ornament placed conveniently next to Johanna's first Christmas ornament :)

 "Baby Jesus...Angels...Joph-ef!"

Again, JJ is so much different than Johanna was at his age. Where Johanna likes to kiss, hug and snuggle her Minnie and Frosty statues JJ likes to knock down, pin and tackle.