Ohhhhhhh Christmas Tree...

For the first time since moving abroad, we decided to attempt a Christmas tree. Our first Christmas in Germany, we didn't spend at home in Köln, but instead in Berlin. The second Christmas, we had our hands full with Myrna, and last Christmas, well I guess we had our hands full with Myrna too.

Sunday we made the trek to Ikea. I was pretty sure we were setting ourselves up for a disaster - Ikea on a weekend before Christmas sounded daunting. But it actually was just like any other day at Ikea and Myrna was having a ball - starting with ice cream at lunch, and then pure fascination at the Ikea floor displays. If for a moment, we actually believed that she would sit in a kids sized chair while she watched Pippi, we would have easily bought her a miniature lounging chair - but we knew better. Then we hit the kid area, and she was in heaven.

But the real reason for our trip was for Christmas decorations. We had decided a full sized real tree was not for us. A planter sized one was tempting, but we opted instead for the designer metal tree. Of course, the idea in my head hasn't quite been realized. There were no Christmas tree lights at Ikea under $40 a strand (some special eco-friendly power saving fancy things), and once we found some a day later, they had their own surprise. Apparently Christmas tree lights are not available in single strands that you attach together, but instead in one self contained loop (thankfully our tree is tiny and only needed one loop). I'm now conducting a survey to find out what other countries mess up Christmas lights.

Here it is in all it's glory, sitting atop a new red end table. We're still hoping to add some more green garlands, but it's at least a start.....


We did the majority of the decorating after Myrna had gone to sleep. The next morning, we had the celebratory hanging of Piggy-Wiggy. Myrna got excited and tried to put some other pigs on the tree, but we convinced her to put them near the tree instead. She did quite a good balancing job with one of the pigs. This arrangement, by the way, is a family portrait of "Baby, Momma and Dada" (as is any arrangement of animals or buses and staircar).


Myrna still wants to take off the ornaments and hold them, remove their hooks, etc, but we've at least made it two days without it toppling over.