Practice Tree

Since we have two houses to decorate this year, we splurged and went for a larger tree than the one we used last year. I know, every year I say I've found the one -- and I'm still not 100% convinced we've made the right choice, but for now, we're going to go with it. And next year, I refuse to purchase another one!

With two places to decorate, and me being a little bit of a control freak planner, I thought we should go ahead and assemble the new one, throw on a few decorations, and make sure we're really happy with how it all comes together.

I also used this as an opportunity to check how the gifts we've purchased so far fit in my expanded collection of drawstring bags. Conclusion: I need to make a few more, but I'm close to done.

I was happily surprised to learn that the lights, which in the store were blue, red, green, and yellow, can also shine in all white. That took swapping the red/yellow lights for clear right off the list. I might do it someday -- my goal is to have a blue and white light scheme -- but right now I'm pretty satisfied with the clear/white colors.

The tree is still looking a little scant, I know. We're not going too all out just yet -- in part because we'll be moving this larger tree to the other house in a couple weeks, but mostly because we are testing Momo. He's never been around a tree this large, nor has he ever really had the opportunity to mess with our decorations -- we usually put them well out of his reach just to avoid this test. So, we're skipping the breakable things for the moment.

I'd call it a successful practice. Can't wait to finish up all the details -- though I think I might keep this one fairly simple and leave all my favorite things at home this year. Minimizing damage to the important ornaments, probably a good step in Low Stress December!