Deck the halls.

I love to decorate.

The $1 section at Target is a place that I should avoid during all holidays. Individually- "Oh, its only a dollar." When you realize that there are 40 of those dollar specials in the cart already- "Ooops." Last year I adorned my whole apartment with little things from target. My favorite item being the sticky jelly-like window decorations. I stuck them to everything. The window on the front door. The mirror in the bathroom. Fabulous little things.

I even got my tree from Target. It was a great tree. But this year Brandon & Sus (my brother and his wife) introduced me to a far more interactive way to pick out a tree. We cut it down ourselves! (I am not sure where I would have been able to do that when I was living in the Los Angeles area?!? OK, I couldn't have. Unless I cut if out of someone's yard. And I bet I would have been thrown in jail for that.)

When we got to the farm and got out of the car, a man handed us a saw and pointed to the forest. Have at it! We trudged off through the snow in search of OUR tree.  

EUREKA!!!!

My job was to hold the little tree while my brother chopped it down. The gloves he brought came in quite handy. Those fresh trees threaten you with copious amounts of sap. Maybe they are crying because they are getting cut down. This tree didn't know how good it would look when I was done with it. :)
Conor seemed to be happy with our selection. But maybe happier to get back to the barn where the owners of the farm had set up heating lamps and all the popcorn you could eat. Then we strapped it to the roof of the car and took it home where I put my skills to use. 



I also love listening to Christmas songs. I have collected quite a library of songs over the years. (My playlist on i-tunes says I could listen to Christmas music for 10.6 hours. Overkill? I think not. No two songs are the same. And the variety allows for everyone to find something they enjoy. My favorite album right now is: Celtic Christmas. LOVE the bagpipes.) 

The endless stream of audio holiday cheer only served to invigorate my decorating juices. So I bundled up and headed outside in the snow to hang lights on the house. Using a ladder in the snow is not dangerous. That is what I told myself. I am not the kind of person who would sue the ladder manufacturer for not having the warning label big enough. If I fell it would be my own over-zealous holiday stupidity! Injury avoided. Joy spread!

We are ready for Santa!!!