And to what did his sleep filled eyes appear?

But a mostly decorated Christmas tree.

Growing up, we always went to pick our Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving.  We'd let the snow melt off of it in the garage overnight, and then my dad would trim it & place it in the stand the next morning.  We'd have a delightful breakfast together by the warmth of our fireplace & decorate the tree.

Obviously, this is a memory I treasure.  Even as we traded real for fake. 

And hearty breakfast went the way of Mt. Dew (then later Diet Dew), decorating our tree on the day after Thanksgiving was a moment to be treasured.

By high school, it was my job & my job alone.  So it was no surprise, that the year I was pregnant - we had no tree.

Or that the following year, we had a lit tree with no ornaments.

However, last year, I caught the bug again.  How could I not, with the spirit of a child guiding my way?

And this year, I passed it on, as I revived the P family tradition.  Which was so totally awesome, as J was in awe of the tree.  He was so excited, as he rubbed his sleep filled eyes (as I possibly used nap time to set it up) almost like he was trying to make sure what he was seeing was real, pointed & said "Christmas Mommy!  Christmas!"

He was such a great helper to decorate the tree!  Okay, to finish decorating the tree...

However, trying to get a nice picture to share with family....

Not so cooperative.