"Our Christmas Tree Goes Up......"

I decided, after a "nudge" from former neighbor, Maniphone, that I would bring the Christmas tree up from the basement and set it up. "Back in the day", the tree would already have been up the day after Thanksgiving, and fully decorated. I'm definitely slipping......

Each year has been a struggle with wrestling the ungainly box out of its storage area and hauling it up the stairs to the sunroom. FINALLY, I thought to use the 2 wheel cart! So much easier! Thank goodness for those "Eureka" moments. ;)

After turning on some Christmas music, "fluffing" each branch came next before it was inserted into its allotted spot. I am always amazed that there could be so much tree in one box.........no matter how big the box. ;) As much as I love the smell of a freshly cut pine tree in the house, I am so not going to have to deal with a drying out tree and dropping needles. Been there, done that, not going back again. True, artificial trees drop needles, too, but they don't cause excruciating pain when stepped upon. :)

About 1/2 of the branches are in. It gets easier as I move up the tree thanks to smaller branches. When all the branches are installed along the pole, the final piece is a mini tree of about 3', which is inserted into the top of the 6' pole.

Our tree is up and waiting for the lights to go on next. That is Don's job and he probably won't get to it until this weekend. The hardest and most time consuming part of decorating for Christmas is done. I enjoy hanging the ornaments and reminisce about each one as it comes out of the box. Yeah.....a few tears are shed, too. ;)

I'll post a photo of the fully decorated tree next week. I hope that you are becoming festive in your own way and are eagerly anticipating the holidays, too.