O Christmas Tree!

It's December 1st and Paul and decided that it is time to decorate the house with the Christmas tree and Nativity. Yes, I insisted we bring the Christmas tree from Michigan to Maharashtra. The tree holds special significance as it is 30 years old this year. It was the first Christmas tree that my grandparents bought my parents after learning my mother was pregnant with me! It's a bit of a Charlie Brown tree now that it's as old as I am, but I still love and Paul has grown to tolerate it for me.

First, we arranged the Nativity on the sideboard. Below we are placing the angel.

And now for the Christmas tree. First, out of the box and up it goes.

Yea!! I found lights from the US in the box. This is a treat! We convert the plug and the tree looks beautiful for about 2 hours before the lights die. Apparently, we forgot to also transform the power! Silly Behrens'! So, we now leave the flat for the next 4 hours to search for Christmas lights in Pune. I did try asking for Diwali lights, but those are intended for outdoor use and get too hot to use on the tree. Finally, we locate a narrow lane off M.G. Road that sells Christian goods and there they have proper Christmas lights.

We get home and place the new Indian Christmas lights on the tree. Oh no, they are actually nets of lights not strands! Luckily, Paul used his engineering skills again and detached all the nets to make a string out of the lights.

Here is stringing the makeshift strands on the tree!

Let there be light!

With the light and the ribbon garland, the tree does not appear to look that bad.
Here, Paul is placing the finishing touches on the tree before we place the angel on the top.

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends at home!