It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .

Okay, maybe it's not QUITE looking a lot like Christmas around here, but at least I got the tree and the living room done. I'm never quite pleased with photos of Christmas decorations because they just don't capture the glow of the Christmas lights. And for some reason, the camera flash does weird things to the red balls on the tree. I call this my "gay guy tree." Politically incorrect, I'm sure, but what else can you call a tree covered with a bunch of elves, fairies, and butterflies? Actually gay guys probably have much better taste, but we like these decorations--for now, anyway. I suspect I'll want to do something different in another couple years.

When the kids were growing up, we always had a soccer tree because the two of them were mad about soccer. Once they moved out, though, I changed the tree.

Actually, what it's looking a LOT like around here is a supreme MESS. I sorted many of the boxes of Christmas decorations and distributed them to various rooms. I have "stuff" piled here and there--stuff to decorate with and stuff I took down to make way for decorations. But I know that underneath all that mess, my house is fairly clean. By the way, I "tested" out the new rug shampooer today and did the carpets in my son's former room and The Sweat Shop--works great! It's probably a sign of some deep-seated psychosis, but I get a bit of a kick out of dumping all that filthy water afterward--it's kind of like a pat on the back, knowing that I did an excellent job busting the dirt! I should have take a photo--or maybe not. Just take my word, okay? It's MUCH cleaner than it was before!

In the midst of decorating the living room, I had to stop for a few arts and crafts moments. Here's the first--the "before" photo.

I was really tired of gold deer--in fact, I was so tired of gold deer, I haven't put them out for the last few years. The only problem is that the large area on top of the entertainment center needs something . . . well, LARGE on it, and these deer work fairly well. If I could come up with a better idea, I'd change it, but inspiration hasn't struck yet, so I decided to repaint the deer a bit more realistically. Here's the "after."

Then since I really liked the display on Warm Pie, Happy Home's blog with the sled, quilt, and books, I wanted to recreate something similar. So the other day, I pulled out a boring old sled and gave it a crackle finish. Tonight I painted some holly leaves and berries on it. Here's how it came out.

I also had this carved wooden Santa who had gotten a little wobbly over the years, so my husband was nice enough to take Santa to the garage and give him a sturdier base. I love the folk arty look of this guy, although my kids think Santa's doing something naughty with the tree. Take a look. Naughty or nice?

Remember how moms used to lick their fingers and smooth down kids' hair? Do you ever do something like that to quickly remove pet hair or lint? Well, I was trying to get a little cat hair off a quilt and I didn't want to climb off the step stool to go get a damp sponge, so I tried the damp finger thing. The first attempt didn't quite get it all, so I repeated the steps and now I think I have a hair ball in my throat. Maybe I DON'T want to come back as a cat in my next life after all. GACK!

That's my decorated mantle. I figure if there's a home invasion robbery, I can grab that spear that's holding the wreath and defend my property. You'll notice there are no stockings hung with care. That's because my stocking is 6 feet long and looks pretty silly up there, so we don't bother. When my husband and I first got married and didn't have much money, we agreed we'd just do stocking stuffers. That's when I bought myself a 6 foot stocking. I may be sort of blondish (grayish), but I'm not dumb!