deck the halls

Well, this might be the earliest we've ever decorated, which is nice. We don't have a tree yet, mostly because we haven't decided whether or not to get a proper fake tree for our much larger living room (the 5' just isn't going to cut it any more) or to get a real tree.

Last year we used the 5', but we ended up propping it on a bucket so at least from the outside it 'fit' the window. From the inside, of course, it looked a bit strange, in a hilarious kind of way.

I grew up with real trees, and Chris has expressed a real interest in having one, so I think that's in our future. I'll keep you posted!

So I've had this little tree for years, and I usually put it in D's room. I made a little garland out of ribbon and found some boring, plastic fake lights. Last year I found a little baby light strand that is battery powered, and much to my delight 10 minutes ago, I discovered that they're perfect. Now it has real, light-up lights!

Imagine my excitement when D walked by and actually said, 'hey, that's pretty cool.' High praise, by far.

So he'll have a proper tree of his own this year.

(In the background is a picture of him eating on the streets of New York City. He proudly bought a hot dog from a street vendor one morning, and I captured the moment. My sister, our hostess in the Big Apple, bought him the frame the following Christmas.)