Despite the fact that it's been windows-open warm, we have been hauling out the Christmas stuff, polishing brass candlesticks, and setting red candles in those candlesticks . . .
Christmas lights are bedecking the living room . . .
And last night Claui and Justin came up to help string the popcorn and to make a start on decorating the tree.(They also fixed dinner -- are we lucky or what?)
The cranberry/popcorn chain is in place, the red bow ribbons likewise, along with the red glass ornaments and some of Cory's grandmother's beaded ornaments. (We missed Cory and Kasie this year -- but it's a long way to come from California.)
The rest -- and there's a lot of it -- will get added over the next few days -- for now the tree is tastefully spare.