All Lit Up

Although we got our Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving, it sat outside for 10 days before we actually moved it in, lit it up, and decorated it. We didn't do it Thanksgiving weekend because I was working on college stuff, then the next weekend I went to Utah for my friend Kim's wedding and Josh took the boys to Stanley for cousin Erick's mission homecoming.

 

It took me a while to get into the Christmas spirit this year, but I began feeling it when I was in Utah. I went with my parents to the BRHS Madrigal dinner show--which I participated in when I was in high school. I loved some of the new songs they added to the program since I was in it 16 years ago, and the food was delicious. It was a fun date with my parents!

 

I also made sure I went to the annual Light Show at the Tremonton City Center. My mom went with me, and we watched the 30-minute show set to music. There were some new lights added this year, and a few new songs, but my favorite is still "Blue Christmas".  I never get tired of seeing this show--this is my 3rd or 4th year viewing it.

After hearing pleads from my children every day since cutting down the tree, we finally put it up for Family Home Evening on Dec. 9. We argued about where to place it this year, and agreed on a new location in the Family Room. We've never put it in there before because the wood stove is in there, but since we'd been so late in putting it up and it was only going to be in there for 2 weeks, we didn't worry about it drying out too early.

I was going to put lights on it in 3 colors this year (usually I just pick 1 color): red, white, and blue. But the boys said they liked just red and blue. It was a unique color combination, and I really liked it. Josh put on the lights this year, which I usually do, but he did a fabulous job and I was grateful for his help. The 3 younger boys did the majority of the decorating. They picked red, white, and blue ornaments to place on the tree, and they worked together (with the help of stools, too) to place the decorations from top to bottom!

 I loved watching the tree come to life as my husband and boys placed items on the tree. I hardly did a thing, and it was so enjoyable for me!

My favorite thing about having a Christmas Tree in the house is admiring it each night when the house lights are off. Every night when we turned it on, I got so happy! It was a beautiful tree--and I was so proud of my boys for picking it out, cutting it down, bringing it in, lighting it up, and decorating it.

It took me almost another week to get out all our Christmas decorations for the house, and by the time we were within 10 days of Christmas, the decorating was finally complete!