Decorating for days

Literally.

Days.

Of all the things I'm not, a minimalist at Christmas decorating time maybe tops the list.

Friday I went on a cleaning spree.  I took down and boxed up everything autumnal and put everything neutral (all the plants, etc.) on the kitchen table.  Then I cleaned every flat surface, even the high shelf that needs a ladder to reach.

In the afternoon we went to my grandma's to decorate her house for Christmas.  I love doing it.  For one thing, she's super appreciative and makes me feel like a hero (who doesn't like to feel like a hero?).  For another thing, my grandma and me?  Our souls are the same.  I get how she likes things.  Emma and I were decorating her tree and were about to put on the red beads as a garland.  There were two sizes of beads and almost simultaneously, my grandma and I said to put the big beads on the bottom and the small beads on the top.

My favorite ornaments of my grandma's are the vintage glass ones in battered boxes.  They're beautiful and the price tag is still on each box.  I think at $.67, she has her money's worth.

We came home to do a little more decorating around here.  The good news is that our kids are big and strong and tall and can haul boxes up and down stairs at either our house or my grandma's like champs all day long.  The bad news is, they're also busy.  Emma had work and Braeden had a big paper he was working on but they wanted to be involved so we worked around them.

Saturday it was more decorating and sorting and deciding where to put plants.  The last time I wanted to buy a plant, Adam stopped me.  He was wise.

In the afternoon we went to the BYU women's basketball game.  Paisley is fun to watch.  Dillon (who Braeden hadn't seen since before Dillon's mission, so at least 5 years ago) was there and I asked him how he got such a tough little sister.  During one of the breaks between quarters Gavin shot free throws (against Dillon) and Mark rebounded for him.

Mark and Gavin make me happy.

On a sidenote, can we just all decide that cheerleaders should wear shorts?  It seems way more practical.

BYU didn't end up winning but my grandma knew that we were going to watch so she called me while we were driving home and we discussed the game.  She said she'd looked for me on TV and she thought they could have at least showed her granddaughter.

Sunday we finished up with the tree.  Three of Emma's friends came to join us for dinner and fudge making and tree decorating.

I'm a little bossy about tree decorating.  I told Adam that I hoped I wasn't a pain when we had guests helping us.  Adam said, "Well don't be."

OK then.

I held my tongue and then rearranged a lot of ornaments after everyone was gone.

Peter, Emma, Vanessa and Omar

Peter is straight up amazing on the piano.  He played Christmas songs (with lots of extra chords and embellishments) and we sang.

This is what is on the piano.

That's Adam on Santa's lap when he was a baby.  No wonder we had such cute babies.

I bought this in Dinan, France. (Well, Emma did all the talking with the shopkeeper and I just handed over my credit card at what seemed like the appropriate time.)

Here's the living room tree, with Lars and the biggest pukki standing guard:

We got this little friend at a Finnish store at Pike Place Market in Seattle last year.

Scandinavian Christmas speaks to my soul.