Last year we decorated our tree the day my family left after their Thanksgiving trip. It cheered me up last year, so we planned to do the same this year. With Spencer being out of town Thanksgiving and the next few days, however, our decorating was delayed longer than usual. We finally had to carve out time and stay up late to get our tree up in enough time to enjoy it before we left to California for Christmas.

I was a bit nervous that our artificial tree would be squished beyond use after being stored all year, as it wasn't a wire-y bend-back-in-place one. Upon erection, however, we were relieved to find it in perfect condition. It was a breeze to put back together. Spencer plugged the cord in as he placed the two top tiers on the base tier, and it lit up with each placement. The branches unfolded and his job was done. 

The classic Christmas tunes playing on Pandora helped set the mood.

The most difficult part for me was placing the garland of gold beads just right. We had found them the previous year at Goodwill for a steal and I absolutely love them. It makes the tree.

Next was our giant box of ornaments from Sam's followed by SweetTart and WarHead Candy Canes. Our star we had already plugged in, and we stepped back to enjoy the view.

Spencer made us mint-n-chip ice-cream halfway through to enjoy as we watched a cheese-y Netflix Christmas film. "Elf" (our Christmas movie tradition of choice) was viewed the next day with the leftover ice-cream.