A Bit of Holiday Cheer:

I am like a little mouse in the attic here... Holed up in the top floor of our Masonic Lodge, avoiding RSV for my little one by keeping to the apartment, mostly. It has been a slower, more lovely pace, but one weird side effect is that it really is NOT beginning to look/feel a lot like Christmas everywhere I go.

I don't hear the canned Christmas carols in every store, I don't see many decorations around, I don't have bags and bags of gifts I hunted down at the mall... I haven't seen one single Santa Claus yet.... No Salvation Army bell ringers... No snow flurries on my windshield...

It's just me and my baby and often my husband in our little cocoon. I've just begun listening to carols here at home, and even sent Joe out on Tuesday (Monday??) to get us a Christmas tree (but a small one, this year, okay, Babe?) but other than that, it's just GENERIC WINTER up here in my life.

Funny, then that nearly a week later, we finally got around to decorating the tree and the house for Christmas. The poor lil' tree sat in its watered stand for DAYS before I could muster the desire and energy to pull out Christmas boxes and begin. But last night was the night, and we put on the movie White Christmas, got sleeping Noah in the festive mood, and got our teeny little tree ship-shape:

{Joe puts on the first ornament}

{Noah doesn't realize it, but he's part of the fun!}

{the angel goes on last...}

{ta-da!}
...and just for fun:

(I have the lofty goal of taking a few more of these "Santa Pics" until I am PERFECTLY satisfied, but for now, this one will do. It was a quick snapshot at the time!)

...He kinda looks like Quasimodo here. Sad...