Oh, Christmas Tree!

On Saturday Justin and I planned to decorate the house for Christmas. I was especially excited about this year because both Justin and I grew up with "real" trees, and after two years of living in an apartment and not being able to have a real tree, we could finally go pick one out! So Friday night before a Christmas party, we pulled all of the decorations out of the attic, and I even made a special trip to the store to buy a few more strands of lights, to match the lights we bought last year. Saturday the plan was to wake up early, pick up around the house, go pick out a tree, and spend the rest of the day decorating the inside and outside of the house. We woke up early, picked up, and headed out...and one flat tire, three new tires, and SEVERAL hours later, we checked out two different stores before picking out that perfect tree. Exhausted, we headed home and started stringing lights on the tree only to discover that 4 boxes of lights was not enough to finish the tree. So, two stores later, we finally located two more boxes of matching lights and headed home. After all of that, we didn't even want to look at the tree! Needless to say, we didn't finish decorating the tree and mantle until Sunday afternoon, and we still have to work on the outside of the house. Maybe this week?

Here is the final product (without a flash - because I don't know what is wrong with the camera):

On a "prego" note...I have noticed, from very early on, that I have had the strangest cravings (strange to me). You have to know, I am not a "carb" person, and never craved bread, or pasta. Those diets where you have to give up carbs? That would NOT be a problem for me. I also HATE milk. I have never liked it - even as a child. I will have it in cereal only, and even then, not that much of it. Well...lately I cannot get enough baked potatoes, mac and cheese, and milk. So bizarre. I think I bought the store out out of the boxed mac and cheese. Gross, I know. I drink milk now - also bizarre. Today, at a Sunday School Christmas lunch, I sat down with my plate and realized all that was on the plate was mashed potatoes, potatoes au gratin, pasta salad and two rolls. Of course, I got back up and put some "green" on my plate. I just think it is so WEIRD that I crave things that I could have cared less about before!