It took us two trips to the tree lot, but we got our tree today. (During attempt #1 this morning, someone was being such a pill that we just gave up and went home.) The afternoon went much more smoothly, possibly because Mister Grumpypants located mommy’s frozen stash of peanut butter cups in the interim period and was promised one upon his return home, if he behaved himself during the planned Target/tree lot run. On the way out the door he started singing “Silver and Gold” from the Rankin-Bass Rudolph special, which set a festive tone.

This was the first year Griff was able to put ornaments on the tree. He got first dibs with his brand-new triceratops.

He managed to hang a few more ornaments before he got bored and moved on to hitting the eggnog. This was his first taste of eggnog, and he loved it (even though he thinks it’s called “eggnot”).

And here’s our tree, covered with a motley assortment of ornaments collected over the years and our new favorite tree topper that doesn’t require thrusting a branch up some unsuspecting cherub’s rear end or attempting to get a cheap metal sproingy thing to cling firmly enough to the top branch to hold up a too-heavy decorative doohickey that ends up listing to one side no matter what you do.