Decorating and Punking

One of my other favorite traditions is decorating for Chrstimas the day after Thanksgiving! I LOVE white Christmas lights. I really wish we could have this tree up all year long. I seriously want to sleep on my couch tonight just to wake up to white lights during the night. . it feels so Christmasy and nostalgic at the same time. We did cave and buy a fake tree 2 years ago. . I fought it for so long and am now so glad! It saves us money and it save the annoying few hours you have to wait after you get the tree home to let it drop. . .oh yeah, and the hours I spend lighting my tree. My friend, Christie, taught me the "good" way to light a tree by lighting every branch which basically takes 5 hours to light a 8 foot tree! My nice prelit fake tree takes care of that and the awesome deal I got on fragrant burning oil from Bath and Body last night takes care of giving me a Christmas smell too!

Greg spent the day at a car show with Brayden, my dad, Pastor Jon and the boys, Marty and Graham and my nephew Bradley. Those boys had a blast! And. . it left me to decorate in peace while watching reruns on tv. . .sigh. . a great day! (though, why weren't there Christmas movies on today?)

Our main decor is our tree, above our entertainment center (pardon the picture, Greg took it from the couch) and the nativity set on the console table. I am steadily adding little pieces through the years b/c I don't want to spend money on it (better to buy WATER for Christmas!).

Oh wait. . that's not the decorating story I wanted to tell you!

Tonight, we wanted to do something fun and holiday-y with our kids. What better plan than punking my sister and brother-in-law!?! Before you get defensive for them, let me tell you that THEY started this tradition! We arrived home one day 2 years ago with UGLY Christmas decorations all over our front yard. I died laughing and knew immediately that it was Brittani. You see, my sister has a problem. She is the cutest girl with a great fashion and design sense. . .except when it comes to Christmas. She actually LIKES the things she uses to punk others! ha ha. So, it was time for us to get them back! Problem? They were HOME! That wouldn't be such a problem except for our THREE KIDS 4 and under! Yeah, being quiet isn't their strong suit! However, with much direction and practice of our inside, secret tricking voices they did great. Very little talking, but I should have taken off their sandles b/c Gracie would run and you could hear the clicking. . oh yes, did I forget to tell you that their windows were open too? Yes. It was quite difficult, but we got everything up before Brittani passed the window and realized that there were Christmas lights in her front yard. She burst out the door laughing hysterically. We were pretty proud. . .yea, so we didn't get away secretly. . but, we got up all the decor and we got to see their reactions too!

Our biggest problem now? We may have just opened a can of worms. . .unfortunately, I think there may be a follow up post to this one!