NOW THAT THE DECORATIONS ARE DOWN, THE POST IS UP

Christmas afternoon, Truvy loves my 14 year old nephew but
he didn't want to be interrupted while Skyping with his girlfriend.

This year I went to town on decorating the house. I did fore for my mom then because I wanted to, I knew it would be a hard year to get into the Christmas spirit. I was very slow to take them down (except for the outside lights - I took advantage of the warm weather and feared a predicted below normal cold with big snows) for two reasons. First, it was going to be a lot of work and the second reason hit me as I put things away - this might have been my mom's last Christmas. All signs point to recovery and she has her last chemo on the 30th before going on a maintenance program and really, the possibility is always there for each of us but this was tough.

So now that I've brought you down, let me bring you back up as I post my pics and show the difference between years past and this year's more inspired decorating. You'll notice no people pics. Nobody took any this year and even in a good year, I have always been very camera shy.

Fireplace 2011

Fireplace close-up 2011

Fireplace close-up 2011

Fireplace in years past - notice I've painted and removed that outdated boarder.

Christmas tree 2011

Truvy in Santa's chair by the tree 2011.

Christmas tree 2010.

My mom loves snowmen and has collected a few over the years and get them as presents from her kindergarten kids every year, so this year I created Snowman Village.

Snowman Village 2011

Close-up of Snowman Village.

Close-up of Snowman Village.

Close-up of Snowman Village.

This is the second year I've setup a tree in the den. I did this after I learned that my mom had a bunch of her mom's (my grandma's Christmas ornaments). I didn't remember I had done this for years with my other grandma's tree. At least I'm consistent. It's a pre-lit, comes in just 3 pieces, Martha Stuart tree that was fairly inexpensive and very quality.

Grandma's Christmas tree 2011.

D'oh! I forgot to take pictures of the house this year.
So here's 2010's White Christmas which with all the storms
we had ruined the lights we had and I had to get all new ones and all LED's.