Decorating the Tree

Every year as we clean up our Thanksgiving mess I start nagging my husband about putting up a Christmas tree and every year he puts me off for at least a week.  So last week we packed everyone up and headed out to our local tree lot to select our very own holiday icon.

Charlie waited patiently in the car while we toured the lot in search of the perfect evergreen pyramid but when the tree man began securing our selection to the top of the car, Charlie unleashed his frustration.  I'm still not sure if the tree man tied up the tree in record time or if he was just a very seasoned tree loader, but let's just say that tree was up on the roof and secured in seconds.  

Once we got the tree home, Charlie wasn't quite sure what to make of it.  He sniffed and circled it, refusing to get within more than a nose-length of the tree.

Our grand plan was to erect and illuminate the tree while Tim was in school leaving the task of ornament placement for Tim.   All went well and Tim happily obliged us with his decorating sensibility (although I must admit to a certain density of decor at about the 4 foot level.)  Charlie was a curious and devoted design partner.  He watched intently as Tim placed each ornament and then dutifully sniffed each one as soon as Tim's hand released it.    

It was great fun to watch, particularly because this was the first year that Tim expressed so much interest in this particular holiday ritual.  Of course, the "boys" took periodic wrestling breaks (I swear these two act like brothers at times - they wrestle every day) ...

... but in the end, they made an excellent design team.