My Christmas Tree!

I had a lot of fun putting up my Christmas tree yesterday. I haven't put up a tree in years - last year it was too hectic after just getting married in November and moving into my hubby's house. The years before that I was just so busy with my store, that I ran out of time to put up a tree. Well this year I planned ahead and knew it was going up the weekend after Thanksgiving. My mom gave me her artificial tree which is much bigger than mine. I wasn't sure I would have enough ornaments to fill it up, but I did. Although I see a couple of "bald spots" in the picture - I'll have to fill those in!

I had a nice Thanksgiving at my in-laws. My mom came too, but she isn't used to eating the Italian way, so she was full after the appetizer course and by the end of the meal she was ready to throw up. That's how I was when I first started enjoying meals with my husband's family, but amazingly my stomach has stretched and now I do fine at those 7 course meals!

Friday and Saturday I worked at my store and we had pretty good sales - Saturday was better than Friday when compared to last year. Our store is so adorable, but it's in a struggling downtown - several miles away from the malls, so we just don't get the traffic we should. In 2005 our sales rocked, but in the last two years several more stores have gone out of business downtown, leaving only us and a couple of other gift shops. It's sad really, such a cute, historic downtown, but too many empty storefronts. I hope the economy improves soon.

I'm glad that I put my tree up yesterday because it lifted my mood tremendously. Saturday I found out that a friend of mine is pregnant, she's 39 like me, it was a surprise. I'm very happy for her, but I want to be pregnant too! Then on top of that I found out that someone else I know had an abortion a couple of weeks ago, she is also 39, but she is a total train wreck - alcoholic, just got divorced after cheating on her husband - major life issues.

Then I got motivated to put up the tree which put me in a fantastic mood. I played my Christmas carol CD's and had a joyous time stringing lights and hanging bulbs. Today I even got out my Christmas Village which I haven't displayed in years. Oh and then last night I watched Extreme Home Makeover and that had me in tears, but also very thankful for what I have in my life - health, love, a great marriage, wonderful parents, sister, nieces, nephew, in-laws, and a ton of friends all around the world.