We couldn't wait- Henry.

Well, the Christmas spirit got the best of us and we got our tree out and started decorating. We feel justified in decorating early, since we'll be gone at Thanksgiving and will leave again around Christmas. We need to enjoy it while we can. Plus, mama loves hearing me say "That tree is so beautiful."

She and Papa set up the tree last night, but we waited for papa to get home from work to decorate. I cold hardly stand the wait. I hung a few ornaments that I painted before supper. But then mama made me eat (like that's ever going to happen) before we could hang the rest.

Mama has saved every ornament tat she's ever made or been given since she was born. She's also started saving other various mementos- wrist bands from the Dells, bell favors from weddings, and even weird elves inside green mushrooms that she and Miss Leah bought with a box of Christmas decorations at a garage sale when they were in college (your guess is as good as mine). But we had a great time going through all the ornaments and talking about them. Mama only got upset once when she pulled out a styrofoam lollipop and I took a bite of it. I guess it really wasn't candy.

Even Junerks (new nickname) had a good time and didn't cry like she's been doing most of the time lately (it's a combination of "I'm hungry", "Why aren't we touching?" and "Can't you get this kid to stop pushing me over?"). She tried to hang up her M&M ornament, but then gave up and just chewed on it for the rest of the night.

Side note- you'll see that the T-Rex helped set up the tree tonight. I've been spending a lot of time talking about birthday parties lately (for some reason, tree lights remind me of my birthday). When mama asked who was coming to my party, I told her that Lightning McQueen couldn't come, becuase he was already at his own birthday party. And T-Rex can't come because he just a toy (does this show how much I like my cars?). In the end, I decided that Oliver could come to my party, even though he lives far, far away.

Here's the finished product. I have a feeling that mama is holding out on us and saved a few boxes of ornaments to put up without us. She said that if they come packaged individually, I'm not allowed to touch them.

Decorating the tree left me with a serious case of "hyper." Mama had to lay down some serious threats to get us to bed tonight. This was after I pleaded with her not to turn off the tree lights and please, please don't take off the ornaments.

We had a great time decorating and while listening to Kenny and Dolly for the first time this season (it feels good), we had our first Christmas miracle. We found mama's hand mixer and hand chopper packed away in the Christmas decorations along with Papa's stir fry pan. She sure was glad to see them again!

But we do have one sad thing to report. This week, we had to throw away the last of mama's pumped milk. It was very painful for her, but we suspected it was going bad and making Juner's tummy hurt when we fed it to her in her oatmeal. It was especially painful, because we out significant effort into hauling it down from Wisconsin when we moved. We those that those of you who have ahd to throw away this much hard work can feel our pain tonight.

And to cap off the evening, here's a video of June's new trick. June is increasingly always in my stuff. Tonight, she kept getting in the way while I sat in my rocking chair gazing at the splender of 600 red and white tree lights. So I requested that she be put in her jumper. Mama readily agreed because June has also lately become quite fond of trying to stand up and open drawers or doors. Unfortuanately for June, this also involves a lot of falling on her head and face. Mama was glad to get her somewhere where she couldn't hurt herself for a few minutes. And June was pleased to show off her new fancy footwork.