A Merry Christmas, indeed

So DH and I have been complaining that it doesn't feel Thanksgiving-y or Christmas-y. I think the Southern California weather has something to do with that. (70 on Turkey Day??) Anywho, we decided to start decorating and came up with this for all our mini palms:

Cute but kinda sad, no? (BTW - That's the best picture of me and my two best friends EVER. Except that you can see straight down my dress. Whatever...)

Anywho, determined to get this house into Christmas-y shape, I went down to Lowes and purchased this, in all its 7', pre-lit glory:

And let me tell you, it was FREAKING heavy. Probably around 100lbs but I got it 1) out of the store, 2) into my car and 3) out of the car and all the way up to our condo. Go me!

I popped in my favorite Christmas mix which includes such great songs as:

• Donde Esta Santa Claus? by Guster
• Oi to the World by No Doubt
• Christmas in America by Melissa Etheridge (I loooove this song - it makes me teary!)
• Winter Wonderland by Liz Phair
• and as a shout out to DH, Purple Snowflakes by Marvin Gaye (A total DH secret - he admits that he hears Marvin Gaye in his head when he's walking around. I love my groovy husband. Hee!)

Music in place, I got to unwrapping our monster tree. (See DH? Our tree did not come out looking pretty. I spent FOUR HOURS putting it up and decorating.)Ok, so section A slots into the base...
Cut the red wire and you get this. Hmm. Not so pretty. Better fluff but those branches (all 3000 of them!).
40 minutes later, 1000 little cuts on my hands, and one trashed manicure we have a semi-decent tree base! Woo, go me!
Section "B" went up a heck of a lot easier. I had my fluffing technique down pat. My hands were getting pretty scratched, though. I went to wash my hands after a loo break and almost cried when the soap got into my poor hands.
Approximately 3 1/2 hours later, I had the tree up and decorated. If I do say so, it doesn't look half bad! I did, however, grossly underestimate how much garland would be needed. Looks like I'll be heading back to the mall today!

Flash

No flash!

DH was quite pleased when he came home. He was also very impressed with the massive amount of heat kicked off by the tree. Seriously, it's like our own personal fireplace. :)

We're heading to Christmas at the Prado soon. I've heard it's awesome but no one has actually told me what it is or what happens. It's a mystery...

Happy weekend to all!