Regular old Griswolds

This week we took the troops to our favorite tree lot to select our family Christmas Tree.  The trips were just a little excited about it and sang and played their way throughout the entire lot.  They definitely provided some entertainment and made a lot fellow tree shoppers smile.  The gentleman manning the lot was so kind and patient with the kids and fielded thousands of their questions about all things Christmas Tree.     

Tree huggers

"What are you doing now?  Why are you doing that?  What is that?  How do you use that?  What is in your tool belt?"

Dylan named the tree puddin' and it was time to give the tree a trim.  It was so much fun to involve the kids, and they loved hearing stories about all our ornaments...when we got them, how old they are, who bought the ornaments, etc.  Mom and Dad worked really hard to suppress the desire to move every ornament to an evenly spaced, more aesthetically pleasing location.  We were so proud of our laid-back attitude.  We were making memories! We were letting them be kids! We were living in the moment! (pay attention, I'm foreshadowing) They truly did a great job making Puddin' look beautiful, and only broke about 6 ornaments in the process 😏

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, Huddy loves to decorate you

Action shot of the family

The brothers, Solack

Almost done.  Look at that placement!

Cal and I tucked the little ones into bed to dream sweet dreams of Christmas time fun.  We stayed up and watched some football. Around 11pm Dad remembered that Shermie the elf hadn't yet moved, he decided to put him on the tree, thinking the kids would totally love that.  So Shermie went on the tree and mom and dad went off to bed.  The next thing I know I get a text message from Cal at 6:30am that says "I need your help downstairs before you get the kids out of their rooms".  Intrigued, I rushed downstairs to be greeted by this sight:

SHERMIE!  YOU LITTLE HEATHEN!

Not exactly the way you want to wake up.  We rushed to move the hardened criminal (Shermie) to a new location and at least get the tree in an upright position and the broken glass off the floor.  You can imagine the chaos that ensued when the kiddos, who couldn't wait to find their elf and see the tree, came running downstairs.  The had a million questions and of course Mr. Fix-it, Dylan wanted to help.  I decided that if I didn't laugh about the situation, I'd cry about it.  So chuckle it is.  A few hours, two dumbbells and some rope later, the tree is back into it's normal position.

 

The moral of the story?  Don't let your 3 year olds decorate the Christmas tree.  It's all fun and games until the tree is on the floor.  

And then, to add serious insult to injury, poor Sloanie girl came down with a terrible virus.  This is where she spent most of her Sunday, with a fever and a throw-up bucket at the ready.  I'm happy to report that by Monday evening the fever had subsided and she started to act like her normal, silly self.

With three (mostly, save for some runny noses) children in tow, we decided to head to the zoo for the wild lights.  While we were there the kids chose to watch their first 3D movie! A 12 minute condensed version of Rudolph.  It was super fun! 

Don't they look cute in their glasses?

Tonight is their school Christmas Play!  I hear that they are playing the roles of angels.  Should be interesting.  Stay tuned!