The earlier the better?

We are about two weeks behind on a family tradition that started the first year Paige and I got married. The first weekend after Halloween we take down all the fall decor and put out all the Christmas decorations. The regular CDs in the car have to be switched out for the Christmas. The pumpkins are thrown out and the trees go up. Our season of giving begins weeks before most people's. This year, we got busy and got behind, so today was the day. The major Martin event started off with an injury this year. As I was carrying the Christmas bins down from the attic, I missed the 5th step from the bottom and fell on my ankle. Below is a picture of what I call my 'cankle'. As you can see, it is swollen and there is no ankle... it just goes from calf to foot.

No, my ankle is normally not that fat. Anyway, so we began the marathon Christmas decorating today. I love my wife, so I say this in love. She is obsessed with Christmas trees. Everytime we have been around someone who is getting a new tree, she asked to take their old one. And even when the trees go on sale after Christmas, we stock up. This year, we added a 9 foot tall, 6 foot wide evergreen to the family. It took 6 - 140 count strands of lights to light it up. It looks nice; even better than the other 5 we already have. I have talked her down to having just three up this year.

I did enjoy spending time with my girls today. We spent about three hours taking all the ornaments out and hanging them one by one on the massive tree. These are the memories that I will always treasure and I know my girls will never forget. They'll always remember how we had to rearrange the family room and push everything to one side so that we could fit this green beast of a tree in the house. I love decorating!