Winter Wonderland

Hello everyone!  I hope this post finds you all well.  Today is the first day in over a week where I feel almost human again!  Just in time to enjoy the white stuff falling from the sky.  This is the view from where I sit in my office.

Isn't it beautiful!  Southern BC doesn't get much snow, so when it does snow, it's special, and pretty and almost magical!  Unfortunately, I've still got a sick little one, so I don't know if we'll be able to get out to build a snowman before the snow starts melting.  I'm hoping it will stick around for a few days! (tile next Wednesday would be great!)

I've got a ton of housework calling my name and some finishing touches to put on this weeks printables, but I thought I would pop on here and share some pictures of our tree.  I thought I would start with some pictures I discovered that the kids took.  The first one we've dubbed the "Nike" tree.

Liam was having a lot of fun taking pictures of the tree with just the lights on.

Our teen went for a bird's eye view after the decorations were put up.

And here is the tree, after Travis hung the lights and the boys decorated.

I think the boys did a pretty good job.  They may not have thought to balance size and vary colours, but it makes me smile every time I look at it.  Here's a good picture of Liam's decorating.

Liam really likes to group decorations together.  He's been doing it this way since he was old enough to start hanging decorations by himself.  He loads up one area, and then moves on to another.  I love it!   Those areas always make me smile when I see them.

Our teen tries for a more balanced, almost methodical look.  Here he was hindered by Liam hogging all the red coloured decorations.  

Did you, by chance, happen to notice the lack of garland?  Yeah, I noticed that too ... right after Liam put the star on top.  Ha!  I was so eager to get the boys decorating, to just watch and bask in the enjoyment of this tradition, that I skipped a part... MY part!  You see, every year we approach the tree the same way.  Travis hangs the lights, gets them just the way he wants them.  Then I fuss with the garland.  That's my job, the one I LOVE to do.  And then we let the boys hang all the decorations.  Sometimes we'll help a little, but for the most part, the actual hanging of the decorations is for the boys.

This year though, I was so giddy with the tree, eager to see it all decorated that I forgot to do my part!  Until the very end when something didn't look right, and the I realized what it was.  It actually turned out to be a good thing, because the beaded garland I usually use just wasn't working right on this tree.  My Mom came to the rescue and brought me a spool of silver and white ribbon to use.  It worked perfectly.  The silver was just the right touch the tree needed.  

I'm really happy with how the silver looks with all the red, gold and brown.  (yes, I took these photos this morning)

Because the tree is so tall and tucked into the corner, it was a little awkward to unwind the ribbon and I went around, but I think that worked out ok.  The ribbon ended up in a spiral, which wasn't what I had been going for, but I ended up loving it.

And did I mention how much the silver makes me smile?  Especially when I see it near the larger ornaments. It provides just enough contrast.

What can I say, other than that our tree makes me smile, and I think that's the whole point right?  And now, dear friends, I'm going to run and get to some of the housework, snuggle with Liam for a while and get the printables ready for tomorrow.

Did you have any snaffus while decorating you tree?  Do you have decorating traditions that you honor year after year?


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