Holiday 'fixin's

I love the holidays and while everybody else I knew this year was busy eating turkey on Thanksgiving, I came home from work :( and decided to get a jump start on the season and get our Christmas decorations up early this year. I know, I'm crazy right?

What's better than a little tree trimming while watching the Colts overcome the Falcons?

First I tried to get Daisy in on the action (ala Dooce's Chuck,) but she was having none of it:

We have an artificial tree, which I know some people say boo! to, but it's just so much easier. Here's a few stages of the process:

Time to top things off with a star!:

I love pulling your holiday decorations out of boxes and discovering what it was you tucked away last year (I think this stems from childhood). Last year, I scooped up what is probably my favorite holiday collection I'll ever own. This is one of a series of holiday plates done by Saul Steinberg. I love his creations and his ingenuity, so when I spotted these, I knew I had to have them. I don't know if they'll ever be worth much, but, some day, I want to hand them down:

Time for ornaments! I love that both Nick's mother and my mother bought us each Hallmark collectible ornaments over the years. Now we have a great little Keepsakes collection. Here's one of my favorites:

Anyone else still have baby ornaments handed down to them? The "1983" train on the left is Nick's and, to the right, is my first baby ornament from 1982.

Two years ago, Nick's mother had these glass-blown angels made for all of us by a local glass blower in Brown County in memory of Nick's grandmother, Shirley. She loved angels, and she was such an amazing woman, that this has become one of my most beloved ornaments to hang: