Trying to surprise hubby

So I'm trying my best to surprise my man with a well-lit tree. In over 14 years of marriage, I have never had the honor of putting the lights on the tree. THANK GOODNESS!!! Wouldn't you know I think I'm about to end this whole thing with the wrong end!!!! HELP!!!!

LOVE MY TREE!!

My friend, A, was so helpful when we were deciding how to decorate this Christmas because of the move. She & J graciously offered to put up an artificial tree for us & it was her idea to use Christmas cards instead of ornaments on the tree. We decided we needed the joy of choosing a tree as a family since last December was a sad one as we were losing my father-in-law. So... we bought a tree yesterday. At the end, we decided on the least expensive tree since we're moving. It was just delivered... and it is BEAUTIFUL!! I kid you not. It is gorgeous & it doesn't look small or short. It is perfect.

K doesn't nap & is home just after lunch everyday. I pulled out the pretty chocolate with pink dots ribbon that I had bought for our tree. We have already hung our first three cards and it is precious!! We'll have to take them down when DH hangs the lights, but I am so excited about our tree!!!

Brilliance from a friend!

We just found out a week ago that we are MOVING. Not to another house in our fair city, but several states away. With 5 children. Sometime near Christmas. Enough said. To say that I am a bit overwhelmed, is like saying fried dough is good, instead of saying it is the best thing you've ever put in your mouth!  I am a bit overwhelmed with the idea of preparing our house, putting it on the market, et cetera while keeping 10 hands from undoing everything I do along the way.

I am a planner by nature. If I could plan my whole life, I would!  I believe this is why the Lord let D take so long to commit in college, and why He had all of our pregnancies be surprises.  The triplets were a surprise & a miracle, and then we had 2 more surprises. So, this latest promotion has almost happened many times over the last year.  It finally happened.  Now it's time to prepare our house to put it on the market, look at houses in our new state, and plan our move. The only problem is that we don't know the date for any of these things, and that is tough for me.  I can only figure out that we will move sometime around Christmas, perhaps as early as Thanksgiving, but probably we'll have movers arrive on the 27th of December... if I have anything to do with the timing, and I don't. 

All of this is to explain that we are going to have to decorate differently this year. At first I thought we wouldn't have a tree, but that would break the children's hearts. Then, I decided we'd have a tree with lights only. When talking to my friend, A, she had the most brilliant idea! She told me to buy some pretty ribbon, and as Christmas cards arrive, we'll decorate our tree! We can't pull out ornaments with an impending move, so this is perfect! I found chocolate brown ribbon with big pink polka dots at Costco today, and I am all ready to decorate our tree!

Thankfully I have been shopping year-round (we've had a Wii in our closet since July), so I  am just about finished with Christmas shopping! Thank you, A, for the AWESOME idea!! If they had had the 4 foot fake tree in stock, I would have already bought the tree too! I think we'll go fake this year with a move in our future! One less thing that needs water!!!