The Halls Are Decked!

 Yes, the Santa Claus collection is in it's place. The stockings are hung. The days are busy but the evenings are calm.

We ask ourselves how much longer we will put ourselves through this, because it is a lot of work and we are getting worn out, but we can't bring ourselves to stop yet. 

We had our own Christmas Light Fight. When I put the lights on the travel tree, half of them didn't light. On our big tree one more strand of pre-lit lights were out. That slowed us down a bit but a trip to Home Depot got us back on track. Funny thing, when we started to take the bad lights off the travel tree, they magically lit. OK. The New lights are now in reserve for another year. 

Tom is putting the final touches of the Travel tree. It's fun to remember where and when we bought these ornaments. 

The dining room is very Nordic.

There are gnomes lurking in this corner.

The Santas.

Some we've had for more than 50 years. We've finally stopped adding new ones. 

Today we added the final decorating, the big tree with all of it's collected ornaments.

As I unwrapped each of these fragile ornaments from their wrappings, it was like shopping for them all over again. So much fun.

Now the big tree is stuffed with memories. 

So is the the Travel Tree.

Next up, baking. I got a start on it this afternoon. A roll of freeze-before-slicing and baking Cranberry Swirls is in the freezer.

Now it's dark, the outside lights are brightening the scene outside the front window, and it's time to go rustle up some supper.