Merry & Bright

I am now back to blogging about prettier things. For now.😊

I had so much fun decorating for Christmas this year. I had some extra motivation too, since we hosted Tim's work Christmas party earlier this month. I'm so happy with how it all came together. We had Annie take this picture of us a couple hours before the party. It was a very casual affair as you can see. Tim slaved at the stove all afternoon, making pasta sauce and shrimp casserole (not shrimp this time, I remember now. His assistant is allergic to them. I can't remember what he used instead, but it was good). My contribution was the 70 meatballs I made the weekend before, which was a big overestimation of how much we needed. We'll have meatballs for a good long time.

While not decorations per se, I had to snap some pictures of some of our plants that are at their best in December. The camellias bloomed beautifully, died when they were hit with frost a couple weeks ago, and then bloomed again. I don't know if they'll make it through the next couple of freezing nights, but they're always so lovely while they last. Some of the grasses have been changing colors too. 

I gave our old snowman door hanger a makeover.

A camellia

I took an old wreath I thought I didn't like anymore, and added some arborvitae clippings, berry picks and a bow. Amazing!

We went to a Christmas event at a farm right after Thanksgiving, and I took home this little bouquet. It lasted me weeks, and I replaced some of the stems throughout, but it was perfect for this little corner behind the sink. I think I'd always like to see some sort of floral arrangement in this corner.

I don't know what the red berry-looking things are, but they were my favorite. They lasted a good long while, then turned black and I threw them away.

I need to be more careful about what I put on this board. These past couple weeks have seen me overwhelmed by the simplest of tasks. Just the other day I had to run out last-minute for the bread and juice boxes I said I'd provide for the boys' class Christmas parties. I could have had Tim grab them while he was out the night before, but I couldn't even manage that. I also broke the little glass bottle in the picture while I was cleaning up the counter. So far no one has even asked where it is.

I went around tying ribbons on everything one day. I warned my family that if anyone stood still for long enough, they'd end up wearing one too. It was kind of a trend on Instagram, but you know, ribbons have been a staple of Christmastime for many, many years.

He would always rather not be wearing pants.

For the first time since Okinawa, we (what's the past tense of "forego?" "Forewent?") decided to forego a real Christmas tree, and we splurged on a nine foot Balsam Hill one during Black Friday. I had been saying for years it was time to replace the crappy old fake tree that had been setting up in the office; I wanted a nice big one that would fill that fill that window. So there was that factor. Another thing was that Tim permanently extended our kitchen table after Thomas started using a regular chair. When I say it is permanently extended, I mean he put in the leaf and reinforced it from the bottom, and used glue and made sure that the cracks are sealed, and it will never ever go back to the smaller size. That means there's less space on either side of the table, and the only spot that made sense for our main Christmas tree to go in the past is no more. The tree in the office is now THE Christmas tree. I also added another skinny fake Christmas tree to a corner in the dining room. I'm not sure how I feel about having no Christmas tree in our main living area. The one in the office is gorgeous, but so far away. I also miss the smell of a real tree, and I might have scrounged at Lowe's for some Fraser fir clippings that I could put in water and simmer on the stove.

So far away!

This is what is occupying the spot where we used to put a seven foot real Christmas tree. In this picture it has the little gifts for the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society volunteers on it. As much as I miss having a Christmas tree here, I really like the way this looks.

My work is 99.9 percent of the way done, and now I can just enjoy. We will be right here on Christmas Day for the first time in three years (I think?), and I'm looking forward to that.