Once upon a time, when our kids were younger, the tree was decorated on the night before Christmas by Santa Claus. It was the continuation of my own family tradition ... and extremely practical as trees tended to be deeply discounted when purchased on Christmas Eve.
These days we put the tree up earlier and deck the halls with boughs of pine ...
having discovered that Texas Yaupon holly dries out way too fast once it's cut, which is why it ended up in the drink this year ...
Happily, most all of our ornaments have a story and many are handmade.
Some are more recent, like the eggs I made our first year in Texas and the garland I printed, colored, cut and folded two years ago ...
There are ornaments made by the kids and me from their pre-school days ...
Others from ballet and soccer and teaching days ...
Angels and stars go up top of course, including a Tinkerbell from our 1993 trip to Disneyworld ...
Hearts go in the middle ...
and the bottom is reserved for an assortment of sea-going vessels and creatures ...
Now all that's left to do is a little cookie baking ... I'm sure Santa will approve ...
