walnuts, angels, & a red bow

i have felt decidedly low key about decorating for Christmas this year. i blame it on the rather short time between Thanksgiving and December 25th, but it may just be a bit of ennui that comes with all four of us being quite busy with other things....and my focus being so completely splintered even before i consider the additional demands on my time right now. fortunately, basketball practice has just started & we were able to drop both boys off at the rec center yesterday evening - giving us an entire two hours to accomplish some essential xmas shopping. so, today, i am happily ensconced in our cozy abode on this quite rainy saturday & do not feel i have to go anywhere or accomplish much of anything.

here is some of the scene ~

you know how it goes:  gold, frankincense, myrrh...and walnuts.


(yes, i realize we are several weeks early on this scene)









so, the PrestoPine is twinkling prettily in a corner of our living room, & i have finally put some ornaments on it. for awhile, i was just enjoying the lights (& Samuel was enjoying the candy canes) - but i finally brought down the ornaments & contented myself by hanging some of the smaller ones that i am fond of.

this wee gnome is one of the special ones - it was made by my paternal grandmother years ago & given to each of her children's families.  i also have a salt dough angel and another gnome-themed wooden ornament, both of which she painted, which are not on the tree this year. (i had to pick & choose since the tree is of the diminutive variety.)  isn't he a happy little fellow?

this is one of our newer ornaments, which i found one year on a trip to the beach. (the one & only time i have lost my senses and gone inside one of those all-Christmas-all-the-time shops.) i have a quartet of these little snowflake angels. next year, if we have a bigger tree & i hang my other angels, maybe i'll devote an entire post to them - ah, what you can look forward to, you lucky pomegranate blog reader!

Joseph and the left-side of the tree

my sweet elf helper.

Joseph claimed the left side of the tree for the animal ornaments he loves. they are from his Nana & Grandpa, and he positioned them so each perches on its own branch: dolphin, squirrel, fox, wolf, rabbit, & hedgehog.

& here's Joseph just before his seventh-grade band concert this past week.

(i have had to learn how to tie a tie,

for emergencies when Daddy is not available.)

i promise to get the older teenager in a photo soon - for now, here is some of the band fruit he brought home yesterday....

& finally...the red bow,

which boldly announces to our neighbors

that WE are ready for the season.