The Gradual Decor

We created a new tradition this year; decorating the house slow as hell. It's not so much based on the theory of "journey not the destination" but more being totally lazy and uninspired. 

 Aesop all but freaked out over the balls. We may have lost a couple in the struggle.

 Lights are up. Step 1 of 476.

 At least we have a little cocoa to keep us warm.

Coming along. I'm not sure the tree will ever be done.

Let Christmas Begin

 It is and forever will be

 We're gonna need a bigger table

Our little elf

Living In Lemon Pound Cake

(from August 9th/10th)

We spent a weekend finishing off Yuula's playhouse. I gotta tell ya, a can of paint goes a long ass way. That thing looked pretty dismal before. After we finished I was thinking of moving in.

thanks again Grandpa

Trees And Crackers

Finished up the tree tonight. Looking as lovely as it usually does, give or take, and depending on your definition of the word 'lovely' in referring to a dead tree garnished with plastic danglies.

Yuula took the lead this year, hooking and placing each ornament as near to the end of every branch no matter the weight or stress put on the saplings tender bristles and surely to create an eventual catapult effect once they finally give way sending delicate ornaments crashing to the ground breaking into what I can only hope will be a multitude of sharp and sparkly pieces.

LUNCH!

Christmas storytime in the afternoon as it snows = perfect

Yuula is slightly obsesses with her newest ornament she picked up at Christkindlmarkt, a golden sparkle peacock she named Pauline.

And to finish the evening off, some classic Mickey (sorta)...

Bathroom Design Is Redrum

Doing a little late night bathroom planning from bed tonight. I think we got ideas for tile and flooring and placement of toilets and so on. We were encouraged. Then we watched a video on how to tile a shower. Then we were discouraged. It's gonna be a doozy, that's all I know for sure. In a day that featured the discovery of unfortunately placed beams and fortunately dead mice, this is ending on an up.

Plus we're watching The Shining while we gather ideas, which is ironic, because I can't think of another movie that  more accurately displays the utter disrespect for the sanctity of the bathroom as when Jack takes an axe to that lovely wood door. Those doors cost money, and I could've used that one. 

Here's grouting!

Glistening Once Again

I think we're done decorating inside. Not because we ran out of stuff, but out of ambition. Threw up the chain and snowflakes last night and it'll do. Laura says she wants to do the entire house someday. Good luck with that. We need some elves to help us first.

Then we decided to tackle gifts. This girl is gonna make out pretty well Christmas morning. Good thing we've been Christmas shopping since the summer. We lost track of all the gifts we've been collecting. We probably missed some. Those will be for her birthday I guess. 

 

  And we played with some of it.

We got most of the wrapping done. Little things here and there, and a little bit of shopping to try and do this week. We'll see tho. I think we're pretty set. Now we just have to make cookies and start injecting eggnog directly into our veins.

Decking Like Molasses

slowest

decorator

ever

but there they are

Time For Tree Milk

The Christmas Crackhead

So tonight we decorated the tree. I didn't think we would get it all done because we started so late and had a long day but once Yuula got the hang of things there was no stopping her. She was having a jolly ol' time hanging ornaments and dancing and all sorts of holiday merriment. Laura said that I've created a monster. I think I've created a miracle.

 We let her untangle the lights because that job sucks, but she doesn't know that yet

She was actually quite helpful and not just a little Christmas terror

She hung her first ornaments, all on top of each other, but they were on the tree so...

When we finished we asked her to pose with the tree. This is what we got...

I asked for a different pose and immediately regretted it

I asked for one more and she turned around smacked herself in the butt

And that's our Christmas card folks...

Once the madness subsided we managed to enjoy the tree in the right light

Not bad. I'll take it.

No Fair! I Got No Neighbors

Utilizing The New Hookless Technique

We're Done When We're Out

I think we finished the tree tonight. I mean, we kind of ran out of ornaments, that is, without dipping into the doubles and my suspiciously large collection of ceramic kitty danglies. Yuula had a good time. She was kinda obsessed with it. She's my girl. And pictures...






And now ladies & gentleman.... our 2011 contribution to tree trimming.



!!!!!!!!!!!!

Killed Her And Decorated Her

We are decorating the rest of our tree tonight, and we don't feel bad about it.

Help To Reach The Top

Yuula helped us light the tree.



She needed a little help to reach the top.



I think she's gonna like Christmas.



Just lights so far, no ornaments.