Christmas Is Almost Here... Are You Ready?

For me, the holiday season has already been full of parties and good cheer, decorating, and making Christmas gifts for friends and family. We threw away our old fake tree at the end of the last Christmas season because I was tired of trying to make all the lights work at once. Not that much to ask for, is it? Silly me. So, we ordered a new tree from an online outfit that is well known. Ten days later the tree arrived with the box seemingly intact and we I trusted that the tree was fine as well. I will admit that Mr. Snooty asked me if I'd checked the lights and I simply pooh-poohed him. The tree was brand new and retail price.

Fast forward a few weeks and I finally had Mr. Snooty bring in the tree for assembly time. Once the three pieces were out of the box and on the floor I realized that the last time we'd bought a tree was the DISPLAY tree at Lowe's, which was already assembled AND fluffed. Uh-Oh. Okay, so fine, it will be some work but it'll be fine.

Many hours and scratches to my arms & hands later, it seemed I'd barely made a dent. Only then did I deem it necessary to watch the instructional video. Yup. That's right. Another *faux pas* by Moi. So, I plodded on along and did the best I could, promising myself to do it right next year. (Uh-Huh. Like next year I'll be younger.) But, I'm actually pleased with the outcome.

Then came time to turn on the lights. All lights were working except one small section of the middle part. Swell.

I ended up taking it apart and fluffing from the bottom section up. It really does make sense to watch the tree tutorial. Who knew? After that process, this was my final product. Not bad, really.

I had to make a decision to either get the tree decorated or send it back while waiting another 10 days to receive a new tree. I opted to keep and decorate the tree so we could enjoy it for the holidays, and I added an additional strand of 100 lights to that section. The cycle of adding lights begins again. I must be crazy or old. Oh wait. I'm old.

Anyway, I've been trying to gather the energy to put up the outside garland/lights. So far, I have the front porch done, so enjoy. This might be all you get.

Last picture is of what little I've done on the outside. Maybe I'll put up the dining room and living room lighted garlands outside and maybe I won't, but it will still be festive. And at least I finished the front porch and the tree, if not much else.

Merry Christmas and Cheers to All! Here's our Christmas picture from 2013. Might as well add it, right?