Decorating the Christmas tree

It's the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so that means it's time for the annual setting up of the Christmas tree.  The kids love this tradition.  They pull out their favorite ornaments and set up the nativity scene.  The big difference this year is that we got a new tree.  Mike and I bought our old tree at a garage sale for $20 fourteen years ago.  It was a pretty tree, and it served us well all those years, but the flocking was such a huge mess every year.  I sold it this year for $25 and bought a pre-lit, non-flocked one that came with a storage tub for $25 at a garage sale.  Today, as I was listening to the general hubbub, I thought how funny it would be if there was audio recording of this event.  I started writing down sound bites.  Here are some:

“Stop, Sarah. Look up. Do you see what I'm doing here? Does that look like a good place to start dumping stuff out?”

“This is the filthiest thing I think I've ever seen.”

“Everything was going so well until I smashed the angel's face into the wall. Sorry, bro. You ok?”

“Don't get that sticky on anything.”

“Why are there more branches than slots?!”

“I'm gonna have a real tree when I grow up.” “Well, that's your prerogative when you move out. I've never, ever had a real tree.”

“Sarah, get your head out of there.”

“It'll be interesting to see how we get it all plugged up.”

“There are two males up here, and one of them's a branch dangling.”

“I plugged it in...why aren't the lights on?”

“Dad, it looks like the tree is wearing a tutu.”

“I'm taking a break. I'll come back with a fresh perspective. I need hot chocolate.” “The hot chocolate mix doesn't work, Dad. It's too old.”

Some of the sound bites go with some of the pictures below.  You can match them up if you want a fun little game.

Noah's broken backhoe bucket and fire truck ladder that he's been putting on the tree for at least 10 years.

This one is very special, because it has sand in it from a beach in Korea.

The age-old bird that I remember putting on our tree when I was a little girl.

The cats LOVE this day every year.  

Sarah made this headband herself with the pompoms that she and Mike made this morning.

The top of the tree was stuck so tightly in the box that it took three pullers to extract it.

Success!  The top of the tree is birthed!

The cats always like the ornaments, but this year, I put a special treat inside a couple of them: the last of this year's crop of catnip.

A little holiday tussle ensued.