On The Christmas Tree and Liturgical Living

This tree.  Oh this tree has a story.  The day we were supposed to go tree hunting at the local Exchange Chris called from work and said there was no way he was going to be able to make it.  Well instead of disappointing the children....again.....I decided to woman up and go and procure us a tree by myself.  Well, not by myself.  I'm hardly ever by myself.  I had my trusty team of very helpful helpers to assist me.  And by assist I mean run screaming through the forest of pre-cut trees disappearing and reappearing at will, while I quickly picked out the cheapest/least sad tree on the lot.

They strapped it to the roof for me and I got it home, hauled it down, carried it inside and set it up in the living room all by myself.  I even got the lights on for good measure.  Before Chris came home.  Which wasn't really difficult since he didn't make his appearance until 8:30.  On a Friday.  But I wasn't bitter.

I was pretty proud of the fact that the tree actually fit in the room since I am notorious for choosing gigantic trees that necessitate Chris sawing off the bottom when we get home so that we can fit them in.  Unfortunately I seriously underestimated the width of this beauty and it may be a wee bit too round for the room.

Don't worry though, there's still enough room to squeeze in the front door if you want to stop in for a visit.

And even get in some early morning calisthenics if you feel so inclined.

We strung the popcorn for some decorations but that's as far as I've gotten with the tree trimming.   I just really haven't been in the mood to start....and since it's already the fourth Sunday of Advent I think we're just going to go for it and do the tree decorating on Christmas Eve after the kids are in bed.  I've always thought that it sounded really fun and exciting for the kids to come down the stairs to see a decked out tree and all the presents on Christmas morning, but I've never been able to hold off the decorating that long because I usually find decorating so fun.

Well, it looks like this is the year.

And also like I really need to get started on the present wrapping since Chris cannot be put in charge of either wrapping or tree trimming.  Not because I'm too particular about how those two tasks are done.  No, no, no, no, no.  It's because I have a feeling he'll be busy assembling other things.  Why St. Nick insists on bringing toys that aren't just open and go I'll never know.

I have *almost* finished writing our Christmas cards though so those might even reach their destinations before Christmas begins.  Maybe.  So that's something, right?  And I've got some Christmas cookies baked and in the freezer, so I'm not a total disaster.

How are you're Christmas preparations going?  On track or a little (or a lot) behind like mine?  I really liked Auntie Leila's ideas on celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas.  I've gone ahead and made a tentative plan and pretty much bumped all of our Christmas-y activities to the first twelve days of Christmas.

I'm not lazy, I'm living liturgically.