A Busy Few Days Throwing Decorations Around ~

Hello! How was your Thanksgiving? Or ... if you don't live in the U.S., how was your week? I do wish (I DO wish!) that we had more space between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If I were Queen of Holidays, I would declare Thanksgiving permanently moved to September. This year, I took down the Thanksgiving decorations at church and at home, and as I put them away I pulled out the Christmas decorations -- an immediate turnaround. Sigh. Today was the first Sunday of Advent. I mean, really?!

One of my favorite houses in Oriental, now with a splash of red.

Our Thanksgiving was active, boisterous even, and full of food and fellowship. Twenty-two gathered in our church's fellowship and feasted and told, each to the other, what we are thankful for.

Adam outdid himself with cooking and baking and generally serving other people. He's good at that.

I will not share all the food photos. Here was the rosemary turkey breast. We served a whole turkey and a whole ham too. It was a lovely day, and I think everyone enjoyed it.

While noticing trees lately, I saw that quite a few of our town's evergreens are looking like this:

They seem to be dying in the past few weeks. I don't know why. Too much rain? Brackish water? Some other disease? I wonder what will be done. Oriental has a Tree Board, a group of people who go around tending to the trees. Will these be cut down?

A carpet of yellow:

A burst of vibrant red!

A Bradford pear at church, in the middle of her transformation:

Trees often lean. I wonder why this one does.

I've never seen anyone in these chairs. It's lovely spot, but no home is on this lot, which is a prime piece of corner real estate in the heart of the village. The owners just keep two chairs there. People are funny.

These twin trees exuberantly announce autumn each year. The house is colorful too!

Well, I did get my pumpkins, Indian corn, and autumn-leaf wreath put away. And I took out my Christmas wreaths and brought the fake tree into the living room. Then Julia, bless her, took over. I was weary.

 She put the tree together, a table-top model (4-feet) because, if you recall, our 6-foot tree broke last year on Christmas morning. This tree was a gift from a friend, and is perfect for our little house and our smaller family.
Julia loves arranging the little Christmas village, and now it can be under the tree, since the tree is on a table. Perfect! But we were all too lazy to go garage-hunting for tree lights, and they must go on first before the ornaments.

So ... for now, our tree is just green. And at 51 years old, I'm glad to say I am utterly unperturbed at such an unfinished, imperfect state of Christmas thus far. You do what you can do! I used to be a bit picky and OCD in my youth. But marriage and four kids will squeeze those tendencies right out of you, as many of my readers can attest. Happy late-Thanksgiving! Happy Advent! Happy early Christmas decorating! The only thing I did NOT do, I'm glad to say, is go shopping over the past five days. And for that ... I am very thankful!