O Christmas Tree!

It's been a pretty long standing tradition that the Riley Christmas tree is obtained on the Sunday following Thanksgiving - and this year was no exception. Soon after the Schillings' departure, we took off, hoping to beat the storm that was set to come in for the afternoon and dump rain upon us. (And yes, we did beat it!)

Our adventure took us to Carroll's Country Christmas Trees again - owned by family friends I've known since I was a toddler. It still irks me that it took us until last year to discover their farm...as the farm itself is so cozy, they employ high schoolers to help earn money for the FBC Mexico Mission, and the quality of trees - how they last and how fragrant they are......ahhhh, I'm still able to smell it as I walk into the living room nearly two weeks later. =)













These beautiful ladies are Chantal and Sharon - part of the Carroll family that I've known for so long and have loved so much.

A pic of the Forrest family that we saw pull up just as we were pulling out....


My above pictures are a little out of order...not sure why Blogger did that to me, but I'm so behind in posts, it's gonna have to do for now!

When we returned, Daddy took a little nap while I finally organized my Black Friday finds. This led to the kids being left unattended...and with Daddy napping, I thought I ought to put them to task. Just call me Martha Stewart....this idea came from Pinterest. Squirt a little Pledge into the middle of a glass ball, swirl it around the interior completely, dump about a TB of fine glitter into the ball and then roll it to coat and ouila! - a beautiful and homemade ornament...fit for the living room tree!




This is the bonus room tree - which we put all of our "acquired ornaments" on - can I just say how thankful I am that the kids are old enough now to do this all on their own?



As for the living room tree...that's John and I's to decorate and this year it included applesauce/cinnamon snowflake ornaments (I made) along with the kids' glitter balls. This is the first time we've gotten a tree that perfectly fills the space...that we've longed for ever since we moved into the house. It's 9 feet tall - and with 12 strands of lights, to me, it's ideal....



To top the evening off, Heather Spinney stopped by and acknowledged that our tree decorating is actual "more labor" than anything highly traditional in and of itself. The festivities happen in the journey to get it, not so much hanging precariously from the ladder to hang the garland! I love Heather and how perfectly she fits right into our home, no matter what we've got going on!