Oh, Christmas Tree! Oh, Christmas Tree!

Right now I'm enjoying one of my favorite activities of the entire year: sitting in my den, which is lit only by the light of 750 tiny (and not so tiny) Christmas lights. I seriously anticipate the moment all year round when the final light strand is wrapped and the last ornament is hung and I can sit in the soft red glow of the lights and just relax. I used to love to do it when I was pregnant with Livers. I'd come home from work, turn on the tree lights, and doze on the sofa until J got home.

I had hoped to get the tree up this weekend, but the weather was very uncooperative and it rained the entire time. I'm not going to complain, because we're so in drought that every spare inch buys us a little more drinking water around here, but I still would've liked a few extra days of twinkling bliss.







It was different this year putting up the tree, because Livers was a more active participant in the process. She thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of it, from dragging the tree into the house and getting Fraser fir needles everywhere to this morning when we put the ornaments on the tree "together". I love that she enjoys looking at the tree and its decorations. For all of the frustration that goes into trimming the tree, it is all worth it to see the looks of utter amazement on my daughter's face as she gazes at the lights and carefully chooses which ornament she'd like to scale the baby gate to steal.





As much as I enjoy Christmas trees, I do get very tired of putting up the lights. I'm not a simpleton when it comes to lights. I'm Clark Griswold, and I'm happy to say that Project Griswold 2008 is almost complete. I spent much of Thanksgiving weekend getting the remainder of the lights out in my front yard. I had set the goal of turning the vast majority of them on the day after Thanksgiving, and I worked furiously to get it accomplished. Let me tell you, it is no easy feat trying to open a box of icicle lights on your roof at 5:45 at night with only your neighbor's flood lights as a guide.

I did get it done, and I am very pleased with myself. J thinks I do it for the attention of the neighbors, and yes, it is nice, but I do a lot of it for myself and for my family. I love love LOVE Christmas lights, and I enjoy being able to look out of my kitchen window (like in the pictures below) and see my own little Winter Wonderland. And the look on Livers' face when I lit the outside lights for the first time was reason enough to spend 12 hours next year on it as well. She just adores looking at the lights, and it is the last thing she asks to see before bed every night.




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