Christmas in the Slaughter House (That's funny every time.)

We had such a fun night tonight. It was Christmas decorating night at our house! One of my favorite nights of the year.

We started out by decorating some cookies. The original plan involved very simply putting a little red nose on Rudolph with red icing, but somehow, we ended up with every tube of icing out going freestyle.




Next we went to Hobby Lobby to pick our ornaments--a yearly tradition. Ornaments are a BIG deal around here. Belle always picks a bell. Estella Dru always picks a star--her name means 'star.' Jeb gets something that reminds us of Grandpa, his namesake. And Matt and I just pick whatever we want. The last four years, I've chosen a flamingo. There is, as you might imagine, no rhyme or reason to Matt's choices. This year he picked a hideous gold trophy with a golf ball on top. It resides at the back of the tree next to the plastic, yellow rubber ducky he picked in 2002. No, I'm not kidding.


After Hobby Lobby, the kids were starving. Since it was Shiloh Night at Chick-fil-A, we thought we'd go there. Matt had the bright idea of giving Jeb his own ice cream cone. I'm not sure who was messier.




After eating, we went to Lowe's where we found this beautiful tree. It was FREEEEEEZZZZING cold out, so the kids and I sat in a very warm Jeep while Matt tied the tree to the top. Belle quote: "Mommy, I'm glad I'm not a boy. Boy jobs are hard."


After successfully securing the tree to the Jeep, we made a Starbucks run. Everyone but Jeb was able to participate. He was not happy. Nothing a blowpop couldn't handle.


We finally made it home, and I put the kids in the tub while Matt put up the tree. Jeb was able to put his two ornaments on before he had to get in bed. He didn't really want to part with them, especially since one was a truck... but he was too tired to protest much.


I just love how our tree turned out. Like I said, every single ornament has meaning or it doesn't get hung. To say I'm sentimental MAY be an understatement. Our tree sort of tells our story. I love love love it.


I hope my kids remember these times. When I was young, I used to dream about what it would be like to have a family of my own at Christmas time. The reality far surpasses the dream.