The big one

That's right, this is the big one, my 200th post! It's kind of hard to believe I've had that much to share in the last year!

And I'm glad it fell when it did, because yesterday afternoon was one of my favorites. I had hoped to get the tress up earlier in the weekend, but life got in the way. Finally yesterday afternoon the trees went up. We put two up each year, mostly because our ornament count requires it. I put the first one together myself. As I was putting the lights on, I sang "All I want for Christmas is a pre-lit tree" to the tune of "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth". Not exactly my favorite way to spend time. The kids put together the second tree while I put the lights on the first, then I put the lights on the second tree. All together this took nearly three hours. Finally, after dinner, it was time to put the ornaments on the tree. It is something that all five of us do together. There are many, many ornaments that my husband and I brought to the marriage from when we were children. And now that we have children, they each have many of their own ornaments as well. They especially love the ornaments that have their names on them! In addition, my husband and I always buy ornaments on vacation each year. Whenever we purchase an ornament or are given one as a gift, I always try to keep the original packaging and write on it with a marker so that we know when, where, or whom it came from. There are so many memories in the ornament box that it almost brings me to tears. It's a wonderful way to start the holiday season!