O Christmas tree

Today, I have all sorts of nasty stuff I could write about - like how I have a headache for the 6th straight day, or even worse, how my cleaning lady abruptly quit on me yesterday - but instead I will focus on the merry merry and bling bling and share with you The Trimming Of The Tree. The good news is that this part of our day went much better than the actual chopping down of said tree. Thank goodness.
Liam obviously really enjoyed helping to unpack the ornaments. He was not so good at hanging them on the tree, but in his newfound love of all things Santa, he did point out which ornaments are Santa ornaments ad nauseum. Just in case Chad and I hadn't clued into who the jolly old elf is in our combined 60+ years. This is him playing with Santa on a surfboard, which is the ornament from the year we went to Hawaii. Most, but not all, of our ornaments represent places we've been or things we've done; let me know if you ever find a cool ornament from or representing Peru, because I am still looking.

(I am also trying to figure out what type of ornaments to collect for Liam. Hallmark put out a series of Curious George ornaments, one each year, so last year I got him the 2005 edition and planned to add to it each Christmas. Wouldn't you know it - last year they ended the series; there are no more Curious Georges forthcoming. Now I can't decide whether to collect monkey ornaments in general, or just eBay the ornament from last year and start over with something else entirely. I also still need to get myself to a Pier One to hopefully pick up a cute little pink heart-shaped ornament for Little Miss.)Unfortunately I left one ornament off the tree and sitting on the coffee table after our tree trimming - that one being the little salt clay handprint ornament we made at Baby Play 'n' Learn last year. I hadn't yet inscribed it with Liam's name and the date, and was waiting until I had done that to hang it. When I got out of bed Sunday morning and made it downstairs, Liam (who had already been up with Chad for a while) sheepishly presented me with the ornament, cracked clear in half. Luckily some craft glue did a good patch job, and with a new coat of paint I don't think the crack will be noticeable at all. Good thing, because his hand is so much bigger this year - that's truly one ornament that's irreplaceable.