It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

You may have caught in my post last week that we actually put up our Christmas decor the day before Thanksgiving. I am sure this is a no-no in many households. :) But, since we head out to a tournament to Kansas City the day after Thanksgiving, I just have to come home to Christmas instead of thinking all weekend about how I would rather be home putting up the tree! I tried to capture every moment last Wednesday when the day of anticipation finally arrived!

Getting mentally prepared for a day of decorating!

Last year while strolling through Walmart I came across some super cute mini trees that were pink and blue. They were absolutely irresistible! The thought crossed my mind that we could start a tradition of JJ and Jayla each having their own tree in their room to decorate each year. And, so, last year we started the tradition and added to it that each year they could pick out an ornament for their tree. Here is JJ hanging up the ornament he picked out earlier this month on his blue tree:

And here is a close-up of the ornament he picked out - a fireman dog!

You may remember that JJ also was a fireman for Halloween….so apparently he really likes firemen this year.

And, here is Jayla contemplating hanging her ornament on the tree:

And, then, the alligator tears when she realized that she didn’t want to hang up her ornament, but she wanted to hold it instead (the tears are a little hard to see here, but trust me they were there!)

JJ and I tried coaxing her that it would be fun to hang the ornament, but she had her own agenda, so we had to hang it up for her later once she forgot about it and left it on the floor. :) Here is a close-up of her ornament, which JJ picked out for her this year:

A doggy diva! Quite fitting don’t ya think?

Of course, you’ve also got to sample the decorations to make sure they are up to par!

And here is JJ’s finished product (notice JJ’s socks in this year’s picture):

And Jayla’s tree (last year and this year):

After all of that excitement I then announced it was time to put up the big tree in the living room, and suddenly my helpers ditched me for an Elmo movie!

Then, I corralled Daddy to help me for awhile….that was until JJ and Jayla discovered their Christmas books that I had stored away last year. And, then all of my helpers ditched me for an Elmo Christmas book!

Don’t worry, I still got ‘er done!

And, my two favorite JJ quotes from the day:

(pointing at the fireplace) - “Mommy, why did you hang those boots up there?”

(and, once the big tree was up in the living room) – “Mommy, that is the BIGGEST BIGGEST tree I have ever seen!” (and his voice got louder and louder as he said it)

Happy decorating everyone! :)