The halls have been decked

We even got crafty. We strung cranberries and dried oranges. I would definitely do the oranges again. They were easy, smell great, and look like stained glass when the Christmas lights shine behind them. The cranberry garland? I doubt it. It took forever, my fingers were mercilessly poked, and they don't show up enough on the tree.

My camera really just has two settings. Day and night. I'm sure camera-winning Lisa over at Motherlode can take all sorts of impressive low-light photos of their shimmering Christmas tree. But over at our house, when I turn the camera on the night setting, my real-live children look like ghost children and our Christmas lights look funky. You see my need for a new camera.

Madeline and I removed our usual eucalyptus branches from the table in the foyer and brought in braches we'd cut from our curly willow. Madeline printed out black and white family pictures onto cardstock and hung them on our willow tree. I love it.

Maya "helped" with the garland on the stairs. I keep finding barrettes and hair bows attached to it. Maya says she's just making it pretty.

Happy Holidays from our house to yours!