Putting Up the Tree 2010

No matter how exhausted we are; no matter how much we need to sleep off all that turkey and dressing and recover from kitchen patrol, we always-always-always set up the Christmas tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving.

We deal with ants from time to time in various areas of the house. Which is why, last year, when we put away the decorations, we should have thought about the ramifications of shoving a beribboned jar of candy canes in with everything else.

Weren't we shocked to find an ant colony enjoying the ant equivalent of Pinocchio's Pleasure Island.

What used to be candy canes, were now tubes full of ants, ant by-products, and ant babies. They were very organized. If it wasn't so creepy and unexpected, it would have been extremely cool. In any case, it was educational. The kids learned about ants, and the mamma and daddy learned about not putting candy canes away in storage for a year.

Wannie was just big enough to observe and enjoy, but not quite big enough to help.

Gater got to be the angel-helper this year. She was delighted, of course!

Aunt Jeannette gave us this gorgeous nativity set, but, having no place to put it where it was safe from little fingers, we put it in the hutch -- where it stands to this very day.

And here are almost all the Christmas stockings. Whose is missing? One still being stitched.

And it was well and truly time for full-on production of Christmas presents. Here is mamma and the littlest angel, with a soft, pink present for her, just being started. Wannie particularly loves soft, pink presents, and she is at this moment laying near me, cuddling a mamma-knitted soft pink sweater, sucking her thumb. What an inspiration for more and more soft, pink presents. We must make them while we can! Before all the babies want are things like iPods and bicycles.