Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Hola! Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful... My Goddess, the wind is actually ROARING around the house. Many trees around the city have come crashing down, done in by ice loads and the strong winds. I have kept an anxious eye on my many trees. Best investment I ever made (besides this house) - the fireplace! I will be curled up before it later this evening, reading, as the wind chill drops into the danger zone (20 below zero and lower). With the advent of digital tvs the mantle is a convenient resting place for a 19" model. It still amazes me how light that tv is, and how slender! Since this is probably the last Christmas I will spend in this home I had built just for me and have lived in for the last 19 years, I have been snapping photos here and there. My digital camera - what a wonderful invention! Photo 1: This is a view from the upstairs overlook of the living room showing boxes of ornaments scattered all over the place as I continued the long process of decorating my tree. The love seat normally sits in front of the window opposite the sofa on the other side of the coffee table. It it pushed into this position to make way for the tree, and focuses on the fireplace. It is now pushed back closer to the tree with the decorating is finished. Mr. Don and I have spent many a pleasant hour during his Christmas visits sipping Bailey's Irish Cream and Christian Brothers Egg Nog while snuggling on that love seat in front of the blazing fireplace. Photo 2: Here is the partially dressed tree that I photographed either Saturday or Sunday. Both days were bright and sunny so there was a lot of light pouring into the house. I started the process on Friday evening, December 4th, by lugging the tree (it's heavy!) out of the garage and situating it just so in the front window. Thanks to some wise advice from a friend last year to tie the tree up before moving it (duh! it had not occurred to me to do so), this year the tree did not fall apart (it is in three hinged sections that are not screwed together) as I woman-handled it into the house! I spent a long time putzing with shaping the branches and vacuumed the tree (to get rid of any resident spiders), and started decorating the interior with ornaments to fill in blank spots that always show up when the light of day blazes through the window. After I got home from looking at houses with my real estate broker and writing up an offer to purchase a house, I spent several hours Saturday afternoon on December 5th putting on the gold beading. I was intent on making it "JUST SO," and added more ornaments, and finished decorating the tree on Sunday, December 6th. Photo 3: Here is a photo I took today of the completed tree. Following are two more photos of the completed tree. It was not sunny outside today with the storm in progress, so the front-on shot didn't turn out too well. The tree is "pre-lit," only meaning that white lights were already wrapped around the branches when I purchased it. That saves a lot of time putzing around putting lights on the tree! But try to find a tree these days that doesn't come already "pre-lit." Ha! Impossible. As you can see from the photos, the rest of my Christmas decorating is minimal - a few candles, a one-armed toy soldier given a spot of honor in front of the tv on the mantle -- Mr. Don rescued him from a Montreal street in 2007 and brought him to me for adoption during Christmas that year. You can see him in the first three photos. I also put out the Christmas cards I receive, which reminds me, I must pick up a box and get mine mailed out too! In this photo you can make out the line of a string of white lights I have up around the round-top window. I have kept them up all year round since I first put them up - I forget what year that was. On July 4th I light up the window for Independence Day! Since they are around the outside of the window frame rather than the inside of the frame, they aren't really noticeable from the outside, but they sure do light up the great room when I have them on. One of the first things I will do in whatever house I relocate to will be to put up a long string of white lights around the front room window. The house I put in the offer on has a very large rectangular window in the living room/great room that is perfect for such a display. It will be a fitting introduction of my style into my new neighborhood, which is filled with quietly sedate houses and landscaping. I intend to shake things up a bit :) I am plotting plans... Now, I am going to relax and come up with a decorating scheme for my friend Ann's bathroom - she has decided to pull the trigger financially and have hers redone -- removing tile that a previous owner had painted over (how COULD they have done such a horrid thing, no matter how pink the tile was). We are going shopping tomorrow night for new tile and vinyl flooring! And I think a few rounds of drinks at Kegel's will be in order too, just to warm us up. Maybe before and after shopping.