Christmas Decorating

Our tree is now up and decorated.

Whew.

It's a little on the bare-and-springy side, but at least the decorations are on...including the Victorian Santa and his early 20th century cohort that I can remember my grandma's tree always having. When she died, they came to my mom...then me. Because of them, I got in the habit of collecting Santa ornaments that had a pack, and were carrying a Christmas tree. (There's more out there than you would think!)

I know. This is pretty pathetic. A few wreaths...some greenery and a few angels and Santas on the fireplace...the tree...and pretty soon, the Nativity scene. (I have to find it down in storage.) That's it for Christmas decorating? Well, it's an improvement from last year, when a tiny Christmas tree made its appearance -- and not much else. 

Others are a bit more lavish in their approach. Take a look at this Christmas house photo gallery -- these people take the decorating to a whole new level of weirdness. Then again, nature gets into it too, I guess... take a look at the Colorado Springs buck who's sporting a frosting of lights in his antlers. (Thankfully, they'll fall off when his antlers shed soon.)

We're bracing ourselves here for pallets of Hanky Panky books...got an e-mail, and they're scheduled in at the Brickworks offices either tomorrow or Tuesday. Then the shipping out begins!