We set up the tree today, which is a week earlier than usual, but we won't be here for the week of Christmas so we figured we might as well do it now and get the added enjoyment of it.
All of the traditional things went into it.
The dragging out of boxes from their long storage in clothing closets
The finding of clothing long missing because it fell behind the boxes
The mad rush to open the ornament & light boxes and spread it all around the living room & the attendant rush to prevent that happening.
The unpacking and unfolding of the tree
The hunt for the power cord
The hanging of the ornaments by the boys along with the accompanying telling of the stories behind the ornaments (we have a lot of ornaments from our own childhoods)
The correction of ornament placement (the boys have a tendency to put 2-3 ornaments on one branch)
The taking of photos by DH, with the yearly dying of the batteries (both the new Nikon D40 and the old Olympus had their batteries fail)
This is followed by DH's annual rant on the evils of manufacturers that create things that need special rechargeable batteries rather than just taking easily replaced AAs
This was, as usual, followed by the traditional cussing out of the tangled outdoor lights and its matching 'find the outdoor extension cord' game.
The new event this year was the mystery of the missing indoor lights. We have or had, 3 long strands of multi colored lights that we string around the living room. They are no where to be found.
All this took about an hour to accomplish.
Why so little time?
The tree is only 3 feet tall.
