My family always puts the Christmas tree up either the night of Thanksgiving or the day after Thanksgiving.  My sister and I were talking about the tree and how we needed to get new ornaments and decorations because we've been using the same color theme and decorations for the past 4 years.  We had a sneaky trick: we would wake my mom up (she works third shift) and ask her for money to get new things.  Of course she said "yes, just go."  So, we just went.  We took a handful of money and headed to the store.  Ann-Marie thought it would be cute if we decorated the tree in light blue and pink.  "Oh man, mom is going to kill us," was the only thing I kept telling myself.  Sure, I agreed, it would look nice, after all, my favorite color is pink.  So, we filled that cart up with sparkly pink and blue ornaments, ribbon, ornament picks, outdoor lights, and sticky door decals. 

"You spent how much?!"  "Shh . . . Ann-Marie, don't tell mom the colors.  She'll get mad if she sees them before they're on the tree."  Turned out she wasn't mad; she actually adored the tree, it was very festive and sparkly.  AND, with the lighting, the ornaments look red, not pink.  Bad for us, good for the family, I suppose.  So, here is a tiny glimpse of the tree.  I'll have a better picture of it when I actually put makeup on and stand by it with my Lover.  :-]