Christmas Time Is Here

My sister is now home from college on break and on Saturday, the two of us decorated the family Christmas tree. However, things were a little different this year since our family friend Rhonda gave us her old Christmas tree, which is bigger (and a bit nicer looking) than our old tree. Problems first arose when we went through our Christmas lights and found that only two strands that we use for the tree worked. Once we got the lights up (and decided that two strands and the star were enough), we ran into a little trouble with the garland.

We put our garland on the tree vertically instead of horizontally. It gives the tree an interesting look and makes it look fuller. However, with a bigger tree, we found that there wasn't enough garland to keep the pattern going across the entire tree. We managed by leaving large gaps on the back of the tree. Our tree is located in the corner of our living room and we never have the drapes open. All anyone will see is the front of the tree when they walk in, so it didn't matter what the back looked like so long as the front looked nice. After we put the ornaments and the star on the tree, it looked great.

I had a rare evening shift on Sunday and when I got back home, I saw that my mom and my sister had made the living room look even more festive. Our large cocktail table was back in the living room and a lot of my mom's glassware and crystal was showcased on it. On the table next to the couch were battery-powered candles and an angel that lights up with various colors. On the other smaller table, my mom put up our porcelain nativity scene (one that everyone in both my mom and my dad's side of the family seems to own). My mom also taped some working lights she found to the mirror we have hanging on the wall. With the Christmas tree and those lights lit, there is almost enough light to read without having to turn on a lamp. The final touch was the bright red sheet surrounding the bottom of the Christmas tree and the gifts I had wrapped (including my gifts for my sister and our gifts for Mom and Dad).

My mom is a little touchy about keeping the room straight but I don't blame her. It looks great. Just looking at it makes me feel nice. Too bad my little "digital" camera doesn't take good pictures...