After the roaring success of last year's Christmas Tree lighting party Marguerite and Jude decided that this would be a runner, and so this year's party was organised for as soon as possible, but not so soon that folk would think you were mad. 01st December sounded about right then! Wha?
First things first though, a tree was required. So with Marguerite Snr and Riona minding Ben, it was left to Jude, Emma and Marguerite Jnr to go get the tree. Jude rented a Zipcar for an hour and a half and off they went down Harvard St to the shop in Allston.
Here is the tree parked on top of the Zipcar Jude rented. Emma sure looks happy with this tree as she gives it the auld 'Thumbs Up' treatment.
Yer man here worked in the Christmas tree shop. 
He helped the gang tie the tree to the car.
'Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go ...... make way folks, make way folks'.A few minutes later and here are Jude, Marguerite Snr and Emma bringing the tree into Apt 7, 32 Winchester Street.
So Jude got stuck in trying to get the blighter up. With the help of Riona and Marguerite Snr he managed to get teh tree upright (not an easy feat by the way!). 
And before long he was joined by Riona and Marguerite as they took on the highly complicated task of sticking the balls on the tree!'A line of red here', said Marguerite.
'And a line of blue there Riona', continued Marguerite. Marguerite has this weird system of decorating a tree, but it works great, not too much, not too little and everything nicely spread out. She's the number 1 Christmas tree decorator this side of the Mississippi that doll!
Getting the star on proved to be slightly more difficult. First it was Riona who tried ........
......... and then it was Jude's turn.
..... even Marguerite had a look at it before saying, 'Here Jude get you up there again and get that star stuck up on the tree'.
Eventually Jude and Riona managed to secure the star ..............
.......... as Marguerite Snr helped out by holding Jude's chair in case he copped an unfortunate one and ended on on his hoop.And so, eventually .........
........ the tree was done. Pretty tall it was too. Actually it was bought as 9ft but with the star and the stand it is easily over 10ft tall. Pretty cool indeed, wha?
Here is Marguerite playing with Ben for a few minutes.
The first gift exchanged at today's Christmas Tree lighting party was a gift from Ben to his auld Da. But what could it be?
Can you see it there? No? 
Later in the evening and Jude's cousins from New Jersey have arrived in Boston. They have called around and joined Jude, Marguerite, Emma, Riona, Marguerite Snr and Ben at the party. Here is Lynn and her daughter Jackie.
And here is Lori and her son James hugging Max.
Jackie quickly fell in love with her wee cousin Ben.
And before long Marguerite was popping open the Champagne.
Pop!!!Cheers folks!! Marguerite Snr, Emma, Marguerite, Lori, Jude and Lynn raise a toast to Ben.
'Pass the Parcel' always gets the party crowd excited and tonight was no exception.You may notice a few pics a little blurry on this post ........... well that's because Jude's camera has been on life support for a while now, clinging to dear life, but tonight was it's final gig before being ditched for good.
Tonight Jackie got to pick the first gift to pass around.
Of course Jackie picked the biggest gift to start the game!
'So how does Pass the Parcel work Marguerite? asked Maddie (with the red antlers on her head). 'Just keep passing the parcel until the music stops, and whoever has the parcel then opens one wrapper, and then the music starts again, the parcel is passed again and this continues until there are no wrappers left ........then he/she who opens the final wrapper keeps the gift', replied Marguerite.'Is this game rigged', asked Scott (on extreme left). 'Yes, of course', replied Marguerite.
James, Thomas and Maddie enjoy the game while Dave (Thomas, Maddie and Jackie's father) watches.
Jackie was delighted with the game she won. Anything with pink on it and Jackie's is happy.
Riona loved this game too and at this stage the excitement was nearly getting too much for her!
Emma received a gift of a sock monkey ......
.......... and she was clearly delighted.
Scott was decked out in his NY Giants gear tonight. Surely he was rubbing it in about this year's Superbowl victory over the Patriots. Hold on a minute ...... Thomas was wearing NY gear too, so yes, they were surely rubbing it in but not to worry as the Patriots will win in February 2013 and hopefully they'll beat the pesky Giants!!!Here James rips open his gift.
Meanwhile Lori is getting into the Christmas spirit and enjoying the fun ........... and the Baileys.
Twins Maddie and Thomas enjoying the game. Hold on Dave is wearing his NY Yankees top ...... is Dave rubbing it in about the Red Sox being terrible this year? Very funny ..... I say, very funny!
'Are we still playing pass the parcel', asked Maddie as she holds the best wee parcel of all, Ben.
Party on!! Marguerite and Thomas enjoy the craic. Thomas' gift was a real funny one, it was a huge eraser .......... for fixing huge mistakes!
Lynn lets Ben join in on the party with a few drinks of his own.
Emma has two weeks to get in as many hugs of Ben as she possibly can. This is hug 24,768!!!
Tonight's Christmas Tree lighting party was great fun. It was the first time Marguerite has been able to have a bit of a party in a looooong time, so it was well deserved. 
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