Christmas has Arrived!

Sunday we ushered in the Christmas season to our home.

Generally, the cardinal rule is we don't decorate until December 1.

But since this is Ade's first Christmas home with us I decided to do it a little early much to Yvan's chagrin. I told him to 'suck it up' as it was only 4 days early! Ha ha!

Down to the basement I trudged to dig out the holiday decorations. (This is the part I dislike the most. Going through all the boxes trying to find the right stuff. I really need to organize better)

With Ade's help, we hauled up all the necessary items and began unpacking. I worked methodically setting up the tree (we don't DO real trees in our house because of the environmental impact of cutting them down - ask Yvan) and so I worked tirelessly branch by branch doing the "fluff" and "flounce" to get the tree to look as real as possible.

It should be noted here that Yvan was nowhere to be seen. As we were doing this 4 days early, he made sure to leave the house "to do something urgent" leaving Ade and me up to the hard stuff. He did return in time to string the lights up because that is a job he is very good at. If I did it, all the lights would end up clumped right at the front, near the top of the tree.

OK. So tree is ready and the lights are on! Next step, bring out the decorations. Now I must tell you these decorations are OLD. In fact, they are probably close to 40 years old. Passed down to me from my mom. I clearly remember them from when I was a little girl. So this part is fun as I relive some childood memories. Yvan also has some decorations from when he was young too. A stylish tree it isn't, like those decorated ones you see in the stores or in catalogues these days. There is no color scheme or themes just random pops of color here and there but we like it.

The thing is these decorations are on their last leg and likely to crumble in your hand as you hang them on the tree so there was lots of "Oh Ade! Be careful with that one!" and "Oh Ade, probably shouldn't swing it around like that it will break!" and "Ade! Let MOM do it"!

Ha ha ha!!! I'm kinda like the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld when it comes to putting the decorations on...so I really had to take a deep breath and just let Ade have fun with it.

Which he did! He kept saying "More" which sounds like "Moray!" And saying "Mama, Papa, Mistmas Ree!!!" He was certainly having fun! Yvan and I both took turns helping Ade put decorations on the tree and we took lots of photos and video for keepsakes of his first Christmas home.

Once everything was done we plugged in the lights and stepped back to have a look. The tree, in my humble opinion, looks so beautiful and I really think it is because we did it as a family. Kids really bring out the fun in Christmas!!!!

Later that night we put on our matching Christmas pajamas (Yes, we have matching pajamas! I couldn't resist!) and tried to get a family photo in front of the tree for our holiday cards! Um, ya throw in a 2 year old, 2 dogs and 2 very tired parents and you get a gong show of epic proportions. But I think we managed to get at least one good shot!

Every morning as we come downstairs for breakfast, Ade asks for the "Mistmas Ree On!" so we plug it in and his face lights up with the biggest smile!

Seriously, Christmas this year is going to rock!