Christmas 2005
In our household, the Christmas season starts with the cleanup of the Thanksgiving dinner and a Christmas CD of the Boston Pops playing.  On Friday morning, we bring in all of the decorations from the garage and then head down to the tree lot for a live tree.  We're still purists and don't want a tree that comes in a box and certainly don't want this year's trend of the upside-down tree.  With the tree in the stand, Mother joined us and we began the celebration of decorating the house.  Such a celebration always involves two bottles of Cold Duck.  The decorations will stay up until we return from Maryland. Please read our Christmas Greetings

All pictures are thumbnails.  Double-click to enlarge.
The lord of the manor is Peter the Great, or just "Pete."  Pete spends the off-season in the upstairs closet as there is just no other place to keep him. This year's tree We finally replaced the electric candles and all of the wires with these that are powered by (A LOT) of AA batteries This carousel was originally designed to be powered by small candles at the base. Now, the ceiling fan drives it at a merry rate
Lyd has acquired a set of small Santas that fit nicely in the laquered tray on the bar A larger collection  of Santas are on the blanket chest. Pete and his entourage guard the steps Margaret gave us this lovely goose and he makes his Christmas debut.