Holly Jolly!

The decorating continued today!  We have done the outside lights, which involve stringing lights and giant ornaments out front and stars and globe lights along the back porch. Light up Rudolph and Frosty are in their places as well.  Inside there is always a lot of things that "have" to go up.  My MIL made beautiful needlepoint and ceramic Christmas villages.  I put these out on the tops of our closets in our front hall.  They are very visible but relatively safe from the play of children both 2 and 4 legged.

The tree goes without saying and has the bay window place of honor for the season.  My kids like to lay on pillows by the tree to have stories before bed during December.  (which reminds me that I have to get our holiday book collection out next!)

There are so many holiday scenes that I create on cabinet tops and in nooks and crannies.  I love the way the brightness of baubles and the reflection of lights on silver and pearl push back the dark as we enter the shortest days of the year.  Chet always has to have a specific Santa figurine outside his bedroom door.  Once many years ago, said Santa lit up and moved back and forth holding a candle.  Now, his candle is a memory and he can't move a bit, but he is Christmas to Chet.  So he remains and he has to be put in the same spot every single year.

The littles have trees in their bedrooms that they decorate as they please.  Sometimes they just put on traditional decorations. Sometimes they add little toys or things they make. I love seeing what they do each year.  Despite all the decorations, due to the size of our house, it doesn't really feel like a Yule tide explosion.  11 rooms can hold a lot of stuff.  It is just that every room has a bit of something.

I also went over to my work and decorated my office so that it will be all pretty and festive when I go back to work tomorrow.  I know that with tomorrow being the first of the month I will not have time to beautify my work space so I took a few minutes today to do that.  It makes returning to work a bit easier.  I have enjoyed these days and also still feel a bit run down from the cold thing I have been fighting.

I know I got a lot done this weekend, but I felt like I was pushing to do it instead of having all kinds of energies for it.  I loved the end result, but just know that I am not 100 per cent yet. However no one that i know who had this gets fully better quickly, so I will just keep slogging along.