It snowed this weekend, so it was a perfect oppurtunity to turn on the Hallmark channel, watch sappy Christmas movies (my guilty pleasure this time of year), and decorate! Please ignore the unpainted walls, and just be glad the duck wallpaper is gone. Now that the bathroom is pretty much done, I'll be moving on to the living room, but I'm a little busy at the moment.
I never thought it would happen, but I actually got a fake tree this year. First of all, it's hard to find narrow trees to fit in our little house. Second of all, I like having the tree up for a good long time, and by the time I get the tree down, it's an extreme fire hazard. And third of all, I'm the one that has to water the tree and clean up the needles, and I just didn't want to have to deal with all that this year. So, I found this skinny tree a couple weeks ago, and now that it's up, I actually really just love it. I love the way it looks, and I love that it doesn't make a mess, and I love that I can leave it up until New Year's, and I won't have to worry about it drying out. I think I'll go collect some branches from the pine trees in our yard, though, so we can still have that nice pine smell in the house. 
It's a cloudy day, so this is the best I could do for now. Lucy loves the Christmas tree. I've even caught her sitting in the middle of it, reaching for the ornaments from inside the tree. It will be a miracle if it doesn't get knocked over. She also likes to just sit underneath it, especially when it's all lit up. Both cats loved the lights as I was arranging them on the tree, and I had a hard time convincing them that electrical wiring is, in fact, not a good thing to chew on. That particular window sill is Petey's favorite place to hang out and enjoy the sun and the view of the chickens under the lilac bushes. Now it's even better, since there's a pretty tree to look at too.
This year I decorated the tree with lots of vintage ball ornaments, birds nests that I caked with glitter, and gold angel wings. The garland is actually a gold and green mesh floral wrap, I just sort of shove in the branches. If I get ambitious, I want to make a felt bird for the top, but I'm not sure that's going to happen before this Christmas. I found a little gold butterfly in with all my decorations, I think I should get more and put them all over the tree too. Wouldn't that be pretty?
I added a few pretty decorations to my kitchen too.
The stocking is from last year's Annual Christmas Swap with Yvonne. We've both just sent our packages for this year's swap, and I can't wait. I'm such a lucky duck that we have this tradition! The gumdrop wreath I made a few years ago, and it's survived quite well. Also, when hungry husbands say, "oh, is that a candy wreath?" all I have to do is remind him that those gumdrops have been in a box in the shed since 2003, and he's suddenly less inclined to pluck off a gumdrop and pop it in his mouth.
There'll be more decorations soon, but for the next couple days I'll be hanging out with one of my brothers, who is in town for a show. I have the next couple days off and we're going fishing and Christmas shopping! Speaking of family, a couple more members have joined blogland, so check out the links to my other sister-in-law, where you can see pretty pictures of my brother and cute nephew in the snow, and my very hilarious cousin, who thinks she is a hick.
