Decorating the Tree

I'm impatient, I'll admit it.  We started this project last week, but have been waiting for some colder weather (yes, I've actually been wishing for colder weather!) to finish it.  Well, today I decided that I could wait no longer ... like I said, I'm impatient.

Like all good adventures, it started with an overabundance of clementines.  After waiting all year for this sweet holiday treat, we decided to stock up.  All was going well, with most of the kids enjoying the juicy goodness, when we were gifted another large box, thus throwing off our whole clementine eating schedule.  Add to that the yearly arrival of holly branches from Paul's sister in BC (thank you Heather!) and my yearly post-Christmas pondering of what to do with them.  Add some sticks that I found in someone's backpack, some cranberries (because the holly berries didn't look very festive anymore), and a handful of bird seed for good measure.  Pour in some water and wait (this is the hard part, believe me, I know!).

The boys had gathered up some other objects to contribute, but when placed on the plate, discovered that they were too big or decided that it would make our unnamed project too heavy.  Nevertheless, they seemed to take great care in arranging their elements (while being careful of the prickly holly leaves).  They seemed to like the water part best, of course -- (sigh) BOYS! Then the strings -- oops almost forgot that important part!  It also turned out to be an interesting experiment to see if items would sink or float.  See, educational (even if it was unintentional) as well as fun -- a win-win for everyone.

But after waiting for three days for the weather to get cold enough to completely freeze them, I decided that I could wait no longer.  The thermometer was reading +1 today, but we took a risk and hung them up anyway.  They look so nice hanging on the tree in our yard!  And how ironic, I thought, that at this time of year when many people are taking trees and decorations down, we are putting more up.

One broke before we even got it hung up and at last count two more were lost this afternoon.  I guess that is the price to pay for impatience.  Oh well, maybe we'll try again in February when I'm sure it will be plenty cold and I'll be wishing for warmer weather!