A Walk Down MayneStreet: Christmas Season Begins

The girl went to Uncle Nathan and Aunt Julie's house to decorate gingerbread houses. Thank goodness for Julie. I don't know what I would do without her. She makes the houses from scratch and assembles them and has the girls over to decorate them. I am so thankful for that, as gingerbread houses are not my forte.

We went to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" a musical at a high school around here. The girls loved it. Youngest wants to know when we can go back and see it again. Thanks to EllisDon for making that happen! It was great! We sure appreciate it!

And, although I am not Dutch, I've decided to become 'one who has Dutch roots' (Since I come from so many different backgrounds, why not one more!? Plus, maybe if I did some family history I'd discover I actually do have a reason to go find some wooden shoes). So, we celebrated Sinterklaas. The shoes (filled with carrots that the dog kept taking) went out by the fireplace and the girls were not disappointed. Nothing big, a new movie and some sweets!

And then, the tree was the next on the Christmas to-do list. Oh man, what a big job that is! Oldest and I (during a break between her orthodontist appointments--which meant she got her appliance out and now has a removable retainer--woot woot (for her-- I am scared she'll lose it)! went to Ikea and bought a $20 tree. And put it in the van. It was then that I realized how big this tree was going to be. It went on a diagonal from the front to the back of the van. And oh boy, it sure wasn't fresh (I wasn't too surprised, it is Ikea) so there were needles dropping everywhere. All through the van. Awesome.

So we needed to take a day or two to get the tree up. We had to set it up so it could relax its branches before we could decorate it. And then some of the lights didn't work so I , er, Paul had to spend some time replacing bulbs. But finally, finally it all came together!