Our Halls Are Decked...

We finally have all the decorations complete for this year's Christmas.

I did the inside, as usual. My problem is the tree is full of lights and they overheat and cut off. I have a plan to fix that but for now the lights are off. I even purchased the candy this week and have filled the candy tree dish with peanut M&M's, stuck the gum drops on the gum drop tree, filled the nut basket with peanuts to shell and I have Tootsie Rolls to put on the advent calendar.  We save that for the grandmonsters to eat so it is not necessary to have it ready on December first.

Claude managed to get the lights up outside. The first day he had to work on them he found all his strings of white icicle lights for the front of the house, except for a couple of stands, would not work. He had to stop at Walmart on the way home from his meeting that night to purchase more. He managed to get them on the front of the house, the wreaths on the front of the house, the icicle lights, snow people and train on the back of the house. Then he had to quit and was not able to complete the front until this week.

Monday it rained all day so no decorating could take place then. 

Monday night I ended up in the guest bedroom during the night when I couldn't sleep. When I woke up Tuesday morning, I found my book I'm reading and curled up in bed to read quietly so Claude could sleep a little later. I never heard him get up at all.

I was curled up on the guest bedroom bed reading and heard a scratching noise. It sounded a lot like having the squirrels in the attic part of our townhome in Maryland years ago. Not a pleasant sound. I paused my reading then looked out the window and saw nothing. The noise stopped. This happened a couple of times.  It appeared when I moved my book to my lap and looked up the noise would stop. Could there really be a critter in my walls that could see my movement? I started to read again and then the noise was louder. I looked up and the tree with white lights in the flower bed under the guest bedroom windows was moving a little. Now...I should have remembered that Claude had not been able to do that part of the outside decoration...but I didn't. I just looked at the little movement on that tree and though something looked odd. Then I realized not one of the trees in my neighbors yards were moving. That was odd. I left my book in my lap and watched for a bit and that tree began to really move around and lean to the side. The noise was louder now. I then determined something must be in the flower bed taking down our tree. I got up from the bed and went to the window to scare off whatever was messing with our decorations. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear but...Santa Claude!! He was outside putting up the rest of the front yard decorations which included that tree. Silly Moi!!

I quickly got dressed and went outside to help Claude complete his project. Many hands make the work go faster.

This year the front of house will again only have white lights that include the two little deer, a tree, 5 snowflakes and 5 little fir trees and lights in the ivy over the water meter. And, to my absolute delight, a nativity scene. I found one in a catalog and ordered all the pieces available. Claude set up a flood light to shine on it. The front our home is beautiful. (These pictures were taken during the day.)

The back of the house is full of colored lights.

There was one thing bothering Claude about the front. He really wanted something in the corner between the garage and the back of the front porch. I was not sure about adding more. This morning Claude made a confession. He purchased something and made a unilateral decision to add it to our decorations. They are actually wall hangings like wreaths but in a cluster formation with greens and red ribbon. He has attached them to the lights on either side of the garage door and they are beautiful and tasteful and something I would have chosen myself. Yeah Claude! As I left home this morning, I was touched by my tough cowboy hubby and his sentiment about his Christmas decorations. As much as he complains about it, he really wants it to look just right too. Neat!

Now the other item in our decorations can be attributed to Andie. She purchased this for herself and Claude was smitten with the idea for him. He mentioned it to Andie last year and never got the items for himself. This year he voiced interest again, Andie listened and noted his interest and found and purchased it for him. Here 'tis...

Yep, folks we have Rudolph the Red Nosed Jeep. Claude is now pondering how to give it a smile. It is grand to be old and foolish when no one can do anything about it. He had his payoff Sunday when he took the Jeep to Owingsville. A little kid noticed it and was over joyed at it. Claude was happy.

On a cute side note: Our next door neighbor has a yard laden with bright lights and Christmas stuff. Their front porch is full of a tree, a snow monster and lots of other things. My goodness they even have Yoda complete with Santa hat and light sabre all lit up. All of these lights and she posted on Facebook  "Spike just went crazy barking his head off. My next door neighbor put up lighted deer. I guess they caught Spike off guard. LOL" Cracked me up. All their lights and our little deer caught Spike off guard. More Christmas silliness in the neighborhood.

So our halls are decked and all will be in working order when I fix the Christmas tree lights tomorrow. Bring on Christmas!!