New Christmas Tree!

  After nearly 25 years, I'm excited to report that we bought a new Christmas tree! The new tree is pre-lit with LED lights which should last for several years. Our old one, purchased with money we received from our wedding, had served us well over the years. As I was packing it away last year, I learned that our local Animal Rescue League was looking for a new Christmas tree to use in holiday photos and to decorate their lobby, so we donated it to them. I know they'll be able to put it to good use. I also knew that by donating it, we'd be forced to buy a new one this year!  

As soon as we unpacked the new tree, the kitties were on the scene inspecting and making sure everything was good to go! Tinsel made sure every branch had been removed from the box!

 Lucky for us, Bailey was still home on Thanksgiving break and was happy to help assemble it.

 Here is the assembled tree prior to decorating it. I think we could have left it just like that!

The first decorations to go up were the snowflake ornaments made many years ago by Jay's grandma.

Lily was on hand supervising! (So far, she's only knocked one ornament off the tree...)

After we put up the rest of the ornaments, Bailey and I felt like the tree lacked a cohesive color scheme, which was provided by my ginormous maroon bows on our past tree. She didn't want to resurrect the bows ("We're not living in a Victorian house, Mom!"), so we made a quick trip to Target to pick up a box of red, green, and gold ornament balls. I definitely didn't need more ornaments to store, but these were a good investment. They did the trick!

I have SO MANY ORNAMENTS! We only put a fraction of them on the tree, trying to stay within this color scheme. I have four additional trees which will accommodate a few of the others, but there will still be some which won't make it out of the box this year.

As excited as I am about the new tree, here's the best gift of all! :)