deck the halls.

i figured if i didn't get the tree up today it was never going to happen, so i spent the afternoon decorating for the holiday.  last year when we got the house, we didn't really get to do much decorating, still getting settled in and all it was hard to find time to hang up a bunch of stuff when we still had boxes to unpack.  of course ziggy wanted to help me.

i hung up lights outside for the first time this year.  it was a cold and arduous task and i'm not sure i want to do it again next year, but it looks festive enough.  i don't know of anyone else on the street that's decorated yet; hoping we'll be trendsetters.

the stockings are hung by the chimney with care.  two years of sayre family santa photos along the mantle and an army of nutcrackers.  thomas loves nutcrackers.



we didn't get a real tree this year, and while i'm sad that my house won't smell amazing, i'm not so sad about cleaning up pine needles for the next 11 months.  i still find them in places from last year.  unbelievable.  i absolutely love our tree though.  when we were still living in apartments, i said we couldn't get a real tree.  neither one of us were interested in hauling a tree up three flights of stairs.  so we got the most god-awfully tacky tinsel tree i could find.  i said if we were having a fake tree, there was going to be no doubt that it was fake.  it's so fantastically hideous and i love it.  silver tinsel complete with retro bubble lights and more c6 lights than should be allowed on a single tree.  it looks like it might set the curtains on fire, but whatever.  its probably my favorite part of christmas.

 i'm not the biggest fan of christmas, so i'm waiting a few days to put the ornaments on.  feel like i better make the festive feelings last.  fa la la la la.....