Christmas has arrived!

We finally have a bit of Christmas sprinkled around the house.  Although in my heart I decorated weeks ago, I just didn't have the time to actually do it until now.  My husband and I had also been in the midst of a debate on the real versus fake tree.  We both actually wanted a real one, but in his head the real tree should go into the finished family room in the basement, which as of right now is still unfinished.  He spends every weekend working feverishly on completing it, and we have a goal of finishing it by Christmas, but my desire to have my tree up now, right now, please NOW honey had him asking me to please use our little Charlie Brown $20 Walmart Christmas tree for just one more year.  I finally acquiesced, and so last night Rusty and I decorated the tree to the sounds of the hockey game in the background.  Ah, Christmas!  

This year I decided to go for the gold, red, and green theme, and for a $20 Christmas tree that is 8 years old, it didn't turn out so bad!  I do look forward to finding the perfect real tree next year and displaying it proudly in the finished family room, forcing Rusty and Baby #2 to pose beside it in all of their cuteness, but for now, this brought just enough Christmas into our house to make me happy.  If I liked eggnog I would be breaking out a mug of it about now.  I'll have to settle for a peppermint hot chocolate instead.

And so, here it is, Christmas!

We hung our little advent stockings-made by my amazing friend last year-up awhile ago so they would be all stocked with goodies for the little man long before December 1st arrived.  He very much enjoys going to the stocking and picking out his chocolate treat for the day...I'm quite sure when Christmas arrives he will miss it greatly!

The munchkin was very excited about all of the pretty baubles and garland for the tree.  He wasn't too interested in the lights and helping me put it together, but once we got into the ornaments he was in there full force, demanding, "No I hang it on the branch!"  As we continued with the decorating he was saying, "This is NEAT!"

His pride in placing the star on the top was quite evident as his daddy held him up to reach it...I foresee possible battles between siblings to do this job in the future?  We may have to have two Christmas trees, one upstairs and one downstairs!

The final result was quite lovely, and Rusty declares it to be so "pretty!"  This morning when he woke up he ran out to the living room and said, "Mommy, the tree is not pretty!"  So, of course I had to turn on the lights, at which point a huge grin came over his face and he said, "Pretty!"

The final fun of the night, of course, came in the form of a cardboard box.  Isn't the truth that the kids always like the box better than the gift...or in this case the tree?

Today we were able to meet up with a friend to take some maternity family photos.  I had Rusty all dressed up in his Christmas sweater for the photos, and thought it was a good opportunity to try for a photo of him in front of the tree.  Well, photos and 2 year-olds don't always mix so well!

And here it is, the best we could get...for now!

Merry Christmas, everyone!