Operation Christmas Tree!

Welcome to December! 

(Ok, so maybe it is not December in YOUR house... but we Rylands have always been a little ahead of our time!)

Since Colin and I will be in China very soon, and given that we really don't know EXACTLY when, and given that my mother gave me a stern lecture about how I MUST decorate for Christmas.....

Ok, so NONE of these ladies is actually my mother, but I figured if I put a real photo of my mom on the internet with "THE LOOK", she might not be too happy about that...so, I tried to capture "the look" without her. How'd I do? :-)

Time being short around here lately, we decided to skip over the beautiful Fall decorations that adorn my garage and cut straight to the Christmas tree!  

So to all the orange and brown decorations and the sweet corn husks that usually lie around the house this month I say, 

"See you next year!"

So, we awoke, ate a wonderful breakfast (Thanks Sweetie!) 

and prepared ourselves for the enormous task of decorating the house for Christmas.  

And we couldn't start this adventure without a little Christmas Music!  

So, we pulled out the Vintage,

 "Christmas Treasures"

 recorded by my favorite female singing group "Treasures of Grace!" 

 For those who don't know, this is a group that I sang with many years ago in Richmond, VA and they were dear friends of mine.  

That "chubby" gal in the lower right corner is a very pregnant "ME!" 

about 6 months along with Tommy when that cover was taken.  

As I recall, it was August and we were shooting a Christmas album cover 

and I was wearing a VELVET maternity dress.  

Needless to say, I was HOT and ready for that photo shoot to be over!

Now, I must pay tribute to the one best invention of the last 20 years. 

No, it is not the computer (although I live on that lately), 

it is not the hybrid car, or the 4 slice toaster 

(which we will need very soon-hint hint), 

but the.....

 PRE-LIT Christmas TREE!!!!!!

Gone are the days of tangled strands of lights!  

This baby comes straight out of the box 

(I can live without the "fresh tree smell") 

and ready to plug in!  

***Playing the part of Christmas Elf #1 and Christmas Elf #2***

Colin & Tommy

Now I don't know how the rest of the world's teenage boys decorate a tree, 

but in this house...

We learned pretty early on that our 

"helpful" teenager

is like a bull in a China shop.

He can, at times,

help you all the way to crazy!

 So, before we opened the first box of ornaments,

Tom sat him down with the translator and gave him a quick tutorial on

"Decorating with Mom 101"

This comprehensive curriculum included lessons such as:

1. Listen to Mom

2. Spread the ornaments equally over the tree

3. Listen to Mom

4. Only one ornament per branch.

5. Listen to Mom

6. Be careful not to break the fragile ones.

7. Listen to Mom

8. Have Fun and take turns

9. But only while you.... Listen to Mom!

and last but certainly not least....

10. SMILE for the CAMERA!

See Tom HELPING us decorate the tree.
Look closely. You might never see this again.

So, in the end, we had a fully decorated tree and two proud elves!

Now that the "Big tree" is done, it was time to move into the bedrooms...

Tommy was carefully placing the ornaments on his mini tree

while Colin was excited to get the Basketball Santa for his room

He also got the iron reindeer statue and thought it was 

appropriate for Santa to catch a ride!

Well, that was about all the Pre-Christmas Spirit the males in the family could muster, so Mom took over the rest of the house....

Nativity- Center Stage as it is the basis for our celebration of this sacred holiday!

Mantle with Nutcracker Collection

But, lest you think that while you are all scrambling in a few weeks decorating your houses, that we will be kicking back relaxing, think of me packing for China while still needing to buy gifts for the children (one of whom I haven't even met!) and lining up air travel at the Holidays, securing Colin's Visa, packing for the trip....etc..etc...etc..

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Let the craziness commence!

Angie