Oh Christmas Tree...

Oh, Christmas tree... you stress me out.

I put the tree up yesterday and it only took a few minutes.  I resisted the urge to touch and reposition every branch because I knew I would be decorating it today.  Then I mentioned to Andy that I would really like to get some new garland because even though we have hundreds of ornaments, trees look bare to me without some garland to fill in between the lights and add some sparkle.  We went to six stores today before I found one I liked because the color has to be perfect and I need to have many many strands.  There was a gorgeous one at the third store but two strands weren't going to cut it, and the first store had some very promising beaded garlands that would've definitely come home with us if they hadn't been so crazy expensive.  I ended up with ten 9ft. lengths of a sparkling mesh ribbon and I used 9 of those on the tree.  It only took an hour and a half of tucking and pulling and rearranging and starting over twice to get it right.

The holidays aren't friendly to perfectionists.

Naked tree!

Mesh ribbon garland from Christmas Tree Stores

Ornaments coming soon!

Tomorrow will be all about ornaments and tackling the village houses project where I'll be figuring out how to light them up in the glass display cases we have without them looking goofy.  I have a feeling that will be an even bigger project.

While we were out today Andy bought us a joint Christmas gift of an electric fireplace.  We have wanted one for years and years and even looked for a house that had a real fireplace because it was a feature we'd always wanted.  The one we got is incredibly cool and has color changing less and flames that are projected on a silk scrim that shift and look just like the real thing.  It was going to go upstairs but it became a huge issue because the studs in our walls weren't lining up with the template at all.  There are some new holes in the upstairs wall that were luckily covered up by the picture we had there in the first place.  It was a huge pain in the ass and if Andy had to do it again he probably would've bought the one we saw at Lowe's instead.  It's together in its temporary home and it looks awesome, so I can't complain too much.  The end result was worth it.

I'll leave you with this hilarious Christmas scene that we saw in KMart.  I think we'll have to go back for it because it is ridiculously funny to me for reasons unknown.  The rest of me may feel ancient, but my funny bone got stuck at about ten years old.  Elf butts are hilarious.

I