Oh, Christmas Tree *sigh*

I've had a terrible time getting motivated this year to do my Christmas decorating. It's really odd! Normally, about the 1st of November rolls around and I'm just itching to get everything out and put it up, but I always wait until the day after Thanksgiving. Well, this year we had company so that put off my plans a little bit, but I also just have not been in the mood to decorate. I finally got around to digging out the boxes Monday, and I've been working on it since! Yeah....normally it's all done in 1/2 a day. But I've had lots of interruptions, including a sick baby. And I've had a heck of a time with all my decorations!!! First, I had this really cute snow globe that belonged to my sister Emma. For some reason I didn't get it packed very well last year and at some point it got smashed. So when I open the boxes, I find mold. And quite a bit of it. YUCK. I salvaged my tablecloths by tossing them in the wash, was able to clean off a couple glass ornaments and wash a stuffed bear, aired out some stinky stuff, and had to toss a few ornaments. THANKFULLY, none of our "special" ornaments got ruined. All the ones that got ruined were some glass cheapie ones and a couple of my older ones. (still sad, but not as big of a deal I guess.)
Finally, the tree! I got all the lights strung on, plugged them in, and this is what it looks like:


Pretty huh? LOL. That is 2 strings of lights, that were BRAND NEW last year, and this is what they look like this year. EVERY YEAR, we buy new tree lights, because EVERY YEAR we plug them in to find 3/4 of the string not working. Can't they make lights that LAST? I guess not! We've come to the conclusion we will just throw them away every year and buy new ones the next year. :-p How annoying!
I will try to start blogging more regularly again....just been busy with company, sick baby, etc lately.