O Christmas Tree

Because our holiday plans do not permit us to put up a Christmas tree over Thanksgiving weekend, we put up our tree a little early. I'm probably going a bit overboard this year after having a tree up for only about two weeks last year (because we were moving). I went to Ocala on Saturday and bought a new 7 1/2 foot tree, tree skirt, some ornaments, crafting items, etc. It was so much fun! Then, Chad and I had a "date night" and put up the Christmas tree.


Because we were upgrading from my previous 4' tree, I needed some additional ornaments. I saw some in a catalog that I really liked. They were made of felt and were $28 for five ornaments. I can't fill a tree with $5+ ornaments. So, I decided to make my own. I bought some felt, some glitter spray and put my cookie cutters to good use. They turned out well and add some color to the tree.


I also wanted to decorate our table. We received this bowl as a wedding present and broke it out for the first time to use as a holiday centerpiece. Our placemats are blue, so I purchased an assortment of blue ornaments to put in the bowl.

I have been anxious to see how Gus would react to the tree. At first, he just snoozed under the tree. He is texture sensitive and loves the velvet on the tree skirt. Here he is pretending to not even notice the tree.

Then, he began investigating. He likes the shiny ball ornaments and keeps batting them until they fall off and then chasing them around the room.
Here, he is trying to "kill" or eat one of my felt ornaments. I was trying to distract him with a toy. He seems to prefer the ornaments to the toy.
Chad and I took bets this morning on how many ornaments he would have down by the time we get off work this evening. He said five and I said four. We'll see.

Tonight, we're gearing up for holiday celebrations and will be baking some pies and some rolls to take with us to dinner. Yum!