I can't believe I gave in!

We usually put up our Christmas tree and decorations about mid-December. However, Rich suggested we get started today on decorating since he'll be working or out of the country for the next couple of weekends. Having another person to help lug our Christmas loot upstairs was all I needed to hear. This is a first for me, though....our tree is up and it is still November! I somewhat cringe at the whole idea. However, the house is big and the tree is in a room that we rarely spend time in...our more "formal" living room on the main floor. We opened it up and it felt really good to all be in there today, decorating. We didn't even bother setting up the tree or putting out the ornaments last year as we traveled to the U.S. for 2 1/2 weeks for the holidays. This is the first time Lily has seen our decorations. It was fun to watch the wheels turn in that little head of hers when I showed her decorations the boys made back in their earlier years. She was so excited about decorating the tree that she kept placing a small gift bag on the lowest branch of the tree....it had a looped string on it! :o) As much as I love decorating for the holidays, I am sorry that my in-laws won't be able to see our normal "international" decorations that are usually up in the house. Although as it is, the house is so large that we really only decorated two rooms and there are still shisha dogs interspersed with Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. :o) Tim contracted some violent stomach bug that is going around and was sick most of the night. He felt much better today, which we are all very thankful for. I am hoping the rest of us escape the rath... Joe made the mistake of sitting across the table from Rich tonight at dinner. He was excused from clearing the table to meet him in the bathroom with the hair clippers. He now looks less like Linguini but we'll have to see how it looks after a shower...I think his hair was in a state of shock after being allowed to go wild and curly on top for so long. :o) All seems to be alright with the Messina men as they are upstairs battling in a boardgame called RISK...an old favorite of Rich's and a new favorite of both of the boys'.