Deck the Halls

Christmas time is finally here with all of the hustle and bustle and to and fro that attends it every year. With Thanksgiving being later this year, it seems that there is even a greater rush in Christmas preparations. On Thursday night of last week, we retrieved all of our Christmas decorations and began the process of decorating. Leisel and I wound the garland up the staircase and strung it with lights (a very delicate process which required great skill).

...While Mommy and Lynnae worked on bedecking the fireplaces with branches and birds and all those wonderful things that bring the wintry outdoors right into your home.

Then on Friday, Daddy, Jonathon, and Austin went out and got a large Christmas tree. They chopped it down themselves and, in fact, it is reported that Austin's muscular arms dealt the final blow that brought it crashing down from it's proud upright position.

Then the decorating of the tree began. Crushed bows had to be removed from boxes and straightened, glittering glass balls were hung gingerly on the tree branches (I don't think that we broke any this year), and ornaments were unleashed in large numbers from their year long hibernation.

In fact, we got so carried away with decorating that we began to decorate Leisel. She almost got placed under the tree with all of the rest of the presents.

We lacked a sprig of mistletoe, but Jonathon and Ania just closed their eyes and imagined that it was there anyway.

Lynnae and Jonathon took on all of the decorating jobs in the kitchen which was very altruistic of them, only the bowl of M&M's which we placed on the counter as a energy boost for the decorators, belies the purity of their motives.