Holiday Prep

Isn't our door thingy cute? I am proud to say that I made it. The greens come mostly from our Christmas tree, with a few fronds from our yard. The ribbon has been kicking around for years, and three of the four ornaments Owen and I thrifted a week or so ago are wired onto it. Here is a heartbreakingly adorable chat that he and I had as I finished up the door thingy (anybody know what it's actually called?):

Owen: "Hey! This ornament wants to go up on the door with her sisters and brothers!"

Me: "Honey, we do this kind of decoration with three ornaments. That one can go on the tree, and she'll see her sisters and brothers every time the door opens."

Owen (speaking in the ornament's voice): "But I will miss them! I want to be with my family!"

Me (thinking, why didn't I just buy the three? ... oh yeah, because I wanted to keep all four together, like a family. I remember having that thought in the thrift shop.): "Your family are very close by - you'll see them every time the door opens!"

The Ornament: "Oh, you're right! I am glad I will see them."

These little windows into Owen's mind are always so interesting.

Here are some more prep pictures:

When I was a kid, we made an advent calendar out of wrapping paper chain links. And now that I'm the mom, we still do it:

From the kids' perspective:

Here's the Santa and reindeer that my Mom made and then placed on our mantel every year from when I was small:

Last year, my Mom gave it to me, since she and my Dad come here from their Colorado home for the holidays. Every time I look at it I get a little thrill.

Here is the tree - the 'sister' ornament is in the lower middle:

It is sort of skinny, totally asymmetrical, and still too big to fit into our tiny house. And like every year, I just love it.

As we made our preparations, the weather hadn't even dipped below forty degrees in many weeks and it still felt like fall. Then the day we got our tree, we also got our first snowfall!

Now we're ready.