our tree is tippy...

tippy and crooked with lots of bare spots...yes, a beautiful tree. Thing is, it won't stay upright in the stand, so the boys used...duct tape. Lots of duct tape. It didn't work very well. So the tree is rather propped into the corner....I am thinking we should tie it up with fishing line. I took a few pictures, but the internet is going sooo slow tonight, and Aaron already asked me if I was putting up pictures....so perhaps tomorrow.

The kids are in bed, mostly, and it is quiet in here. I should be getting in bed, but my brain has so much extra activity going on lately that I just wait until I am so tired I cannot keep my eyes open, then I go to bed.

The week without Paul has gone by faster than I thought it would. I did think of some wives who have husbands in the military this week....for them, one week would be nothing.

We did our shopping today, and came home with groceries to a houseful of kids who were bouncing off the walls with excitement...they wanted to decorate the tree. I had to put the groceries away and start dinner....I made a pot of chili, some white rice, and some brown rice. Mirielle made a salad. I then put the lights on the tree, which Paul usually does. Good thing I bought some new ones after Chrismas last year, so many of the older ones don't work. I am not like my mother, who would sit there and figure out which bulb was blown in each string....

I finally put the last lights on after dinner.....and they started decorating it...they had put all the candy canes on it immediately, so they had to take them off and put them back on after the lights, minus several...., and Camille broke at least four ornaments. But now the tree is up, although it is so crooked I won't be surprised if it falls over again. It is so pretty though, it looks nice and festive in here. I bought a Frank Sinatra Christmas classics cd in the grocery store, it made me almost cry because we had that record when I was growing up. It is so much nicer than the Barbie's 12 Days of Christmas they listen to.....I mean, who wants five golden ringtones and a Malibu Beach House?

The kids get excited, there are things to be done, they have homework, there are groceries to put away, ect....so I asked them all tonight, "What is the biggest enemy of our home?" They all knew the answer. Our own sin. Each one's. I asked them to each take heed to themselves, to work on saying NO to blaming and getting angry and snipping and nipping......it really helps when there is a mutual acknowledgement of the truth around here. But it isn't magic. I still had someone tell me to Shut Up, and then a door slammed. rrr. But it is THROUGH the sufferings to glory! And Lord knows there is no shortage of opportunities for glory around here!!!