Seriously, that is the GREATEST chore Buddy could have done. I hate artificial trees. I hate assembling artificial trees. So the fact that someone surprised me and did that after I'd gone to bed, well, I was very, very appreciative. That same person did two loads of laundry and folded them as well! That person is definitely going to be on Santa's "Nice" list.
So I put the lights on the tree after work. Shawn took the boys to Ankeny for haircuts and while Violet was taking her after-daycare nap, I put the lights on. And then I plugged in the lights, and the bottom strand didn't work. $&%&#*
Violet woke up at that point so I quickly pulled the bad strand of lights off the tree and then ate burgers and fries that Shawn had brought home. Fortunately, we had a brand new strand of lights in the basement, leftover from last year. Learning from my mistake, I plugged these lights in first before putting them on the tree.
And wouldn't you know it, the yellow lights were not working!! Man, I hate Christmas lights. If I had money to waste I would totally pay someone to put lights on my tree and around the house and outside the house. But I don't, so oh well.
Anyway, I tested every stupid yellow bulb until I found the broken one. Put in a new one, and voila, the entire strand lit up! Once the lights were on and Violet had been wrangled and put to bed, the boys helped me decorate the tree. Oh it is so much fun to see them get so excited about each ornament! And they have a lot. I buy them ornaments every year. Both of their Grandma's get them ornaments. They usually make one at school or daycare or with me at home. So when you add all of my ornaments from my entire life, it's a pretty impressive collection. Certainly much, much bigger than our puny artificial tree can hold. But that doesn't stop us. We cover every branch! And it looks great!!
I just put the boys to bed. Shawn brought in the mail, and there were the new 2012 ornaments I had ordered for the kids! I always try to choose things that symbolize something they did or liked that year. For instance, last year I bought Mazy a fish ornament because it was the year he caught his first fish when he went fishing with his Great Grandpa Pud. And I bought Bo a banana because he discovered his love for bananas and Curious George that year. In 2010, I bought them both really cool dinosaur ornaments because that was definitely the year of the dinosaur at our house.
So this year, I found an ornament personalization site and bought Violet a stork carrying a baby girl, customized with her name and birthdate. I picked out a little brunette soccer player in a blue jersey and had the name Bourne, the number 5 and 2012 put on it. And for Mazy. Oh I love Mazy's and I hope he does too! For Mazy I found a big brother ornament wearing a green hat with a little sister riding piggyback. I had them write Mazy on the boy's shirt, and Violet on the little girl's hat. It's so cute! I had to commemorate 2012 as the year of Violet for him. Although he probably would have liked a soccer player, too.
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