O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

Well....I happen to believe that every year there is one perfect Christmas tree...

I hate to inform the rest of you, but folks, this year we got it.

The quest for the perfect tree involved us borrowing my dad's truck, dinner at KFC (because the ol' pizza joint over there has been turned into a laundromat...hmmmm...), and a local Christmas tree lot.

:)

Last Friday night...

Now, the owner of this Christmas tree lot was an old friend of my biological father. Very nice man. Turns out---he's also one of our neighbors. Small world, eh?

Aaaaannndddd---they're off!


There it is....the chosen tree.


Got it home. So easy. It was bagged, and all we had to do was cart it in, and turn it upright. It was already on a stand. Talk about rockin' my world. Seriously---every year we spend 30-45 minutes getting it in the stand, trimming bottom branches, tighten this bolt thing, is it straight? etc. Not this year. And, never again, my friends!


Of course, it was too big to fit in our house. We have a house that was built in 1949. We don't have tall ceilings...so, we trimmed down the top to get it to fit...


And then, the decorations!
Let's start with lights....I love looking at them, but hate to put them on the tree! We looked in our box, we had 4 strands of 100 little white lights, and 4 strands of 10 star lights. Got those on the tree....they weren't nearly enough.
So, off we went to the store for more lights. I can tell you exactly how many lights are on this tree: 1540. That's a lotta lights!

Ornaments...I have been collecting Christmas ornaments since I was a little girl. Every year since Junior High, Megan, Susan & I have been exchanging ornaments, and usually when I visit a new place, I get Christmas ornaments. And--my grandparents gave me the Christmas ornaments that they had on their tree when my dad was a little boy. I think those are pretty special. Anyway...my point is: I've got quite an eclectic ornament collection. When I started looking at the ornaments, I discovered that I had less than 20 plain colored ball ornaments. Those are the fillers!
So, with all of the lights & ornaments on the tree, it still wasn't enough!
Off I went to a dollar store and Garden Ridge. I bought a ton of ornaments! Some were filler ornaments, and some are neat little trinkety ornaments. I told Gage that he could pick out any ornaments that he wants b/c at Garden Ridge they were 1/2 off, and we needed a lot more! So, it was no surprise that he picked a car ornament (jeez, I hate Nascar....but lucky me, I have a Nascar ornament on my tree!)...and then I was surprised at the other ornaments he picked. He picked half a dozen ornaments that are feathered birds with feathery tails and they clip on the branches. He loved them, so we got them. Hubby hates them...but Gage liked them, so that's what matters. I think they're neat looking....


Alas, in all it's glory....here is the Lainey-Paney Family Christmas Tree!






(nevermind the fact that the tree skirt isn't nearly big enough!)



HALLELUJAH! EVERBODY SAY "CHEESE".
"MERRY CHRISTMAS" FROM THE FAMILY.