Deck the Halls

We are decorated for Christmas! And we even have the train up this year... I don't think we have put it out since we had Ella, for obvious reasons, but we were at Wal-Mart the weekend after Thanksgiving getting some last minute things we needed to help with the decorating (fuses, extra light bulbs, garland, etc.) and she saw a train set up. She said "I want a train" and we said "we have a train. We will put it up for you!" So the train is up, and circling the tree, and Ella loves it. She also wanted people for the train so badly, and when I found out how much the people for our train cost (we have an LGB) I decided to go find little Christmas village people to put in her train. She doesn't mind that there is snow all around the bottom of their feet... and I don't mind either for the price difference!

Ella setting up the train

Scott & Ella got the train running! The track is so dirty...

Then Thursday night we decided to get our Christmas tree. According to Scott, we will never have a fake tree. Last year we went to the tree farm near our house a chopped down a tree, but it was really hard finding a good tree because of the drought, and the trees they grow at the farm are cypress, so they don't smell. What's the point of a real tree if it doesn't smell like a Christmas tree? So this year we went back to our old faithful, Home Depot. Of course a nasty storm had come through on Wednesday, and Thursday's high had been 48, so by the time we went out to get the tree it was around 41 degrees and windy - so it felt like it was in the 30s!!!
Luckily we found a good tree fairly quickly, and got it home and in the house so we could start cleaning it out. I guess because of the storm the day before it accumulated a lot of leaves and other gunk. There were a bunch of leaves all in the middle of the tree that we had to clean out before we could do any decorating. I had to take a picture to show what we were dealing with!

We have always had random, mis-matched stockings, and now, thanks to Pottery Barn's free personalization deal, we all have matching stockings - FINALLY!!!

Both fireplaces - decorated for the holiday season!

The finished Christmas Tree, a couple of different angles.