Let the decorating begin!

The girlie headed back to college today, but not before we peppered the weekend with decorating for the holiday. The tree was bought and put up (am I the only one who smiles the whole drive back home knowing I have a Fraser fir tied to the top of my car?). And like last year when we pulled no tree ornaments from the attic, but rather decorated our tree with what we had on hand, we did the same this year. Harleigh took the lead and made a paper chain from vintage sheet music from the paper stash in the craft room. We had these curly gold thingies from Hobby Lobby that got tucked into the branches, sticking out in a whimsical fashion, and then we added candy canes. I love that the tree has an old-fashioned, simple, handmade quality to it. (Someday when I have grandchildren, the attic treasures will come out in full force, but in the meantime, this decorating solution fits our busy lifestyle, and, most importantly, we don't feel slighted. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the chain making, coupled with my crafting on my Secret Santa gift for the office swap, made for a great mother-daughter afternoon.)

When we find our tree, the hand-clapping and eeking about finding just the right one has to do with whether our tree looks like it came straight out of the forest (you know what I mean, like with singing birds flighting about draping it with berry garland, bunnies placing gifts under it, and the Winter Warlock towering over it, his heart melting with the gift of a choo choo) . Which is why when we get it home, whatever leaves are hidden within the branches stay, and the one quirky branch (in the case of this year, the top of the tree) remains intact. Here, a leaf reminds us that birds once made their homes here, snow and rain fell onto her branches, and now this beautiful tree is here at Chateau Gahan, a part of our celebration of the baby Jesus.
Another handmade chain now graces the mantle.


My grandmother left us a lovely little collection of Annalee Christmas figurines. I don't know that I would ever buy one of these, but now that I have a handful of them, I'm smitten. Here is a little mousey.
And, of course, one of my little chairs has to get a little Christmas touch.