Christmas in July....YAY! Oh yea....and a first...

Good evening friends and Merry Christmas!  Ha!  No, I am not crazy.  BUT-we did have a little Christmas in our house today.

When I was small, my mom kept up a pencil tree year round and it was decorated for each season/holiday. I remember being so excited when she would decorate it.  Now that I have my own home and Darbee Rae, I have kept up a small tree the past few years.

This year, my baby will start her school journey.  She will start pre-k. I wanted to do a little more for back to school since she will start this year....it's a little more special.

I usually used a 5ft. pencil tree that I kept up all the time.  After Christmas last year, I decided it was time for it to retire.  It had seen its better days.  When I decided to decorate my back to school tree, I wanted another tall one.  I was thrilled when I found a Vienna Twig tree at a steal!  I ordered it and couldn't wait for it to come.

I looked for it yesterday, but it didn't come.  All day today, I had high hopes....no tree.  Nana came and we went to lunch and ran a few errands around town.  We came home and about an hour later, what pulled up out front?  The FED-EX truck!  I nearly ran out the door to meet him.

I was so happy!

It looked so small in the box!  I couldn't believe there was a 5ft. tree in there!

It is pre-lit too!  An added bonus.

I quickly got to work spreading out the branches.  Whooo...that was rough...those things were scratchy!

Miss Priss had to jump in front of the camera too.  

Silly girl.

I love it!  It looks so cute and cozy! 

I am going to decorate it with back to school stuff for now.  It won't be too primitive, but that's okay.  I am going to get busy making me some primitive ornaments for fall and Christmas.  I am thrilled.  It's just what I wanted!

Now...for the first.  My baby is growing up!

She has been wanting to learn how to tie shoes for a long time.  I bought her a learn to tie book and we worked on it for a bit.  The other night, she learned how to do the first step all by herself.  She came to me and said, "Mommy, look I can tie."  She had a long leash that she was playing with her stuffed animal puppy and she had learned to do the first step.  

Today, she had to show off to Nana that she could "tie."  Nana sat with her and showed her the other steps again and it clicked!  She practiced a few times with Nana and then wanted to do it by herself.

She did it!!!

My girl can tie now!  

I am so proud of her...chocolate mouth and all! (Smile)

Hope all of you have had a great day and done something to make you smile!

Until next time....