Florida Christmas Decorations 2006
Normally, the decoration of the house starts on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year, our trip to Pennsylvania to visit Kate and Sal had us flying home on Friday the 24th. We put out new electric candles on the 25th.  They "burn" for 6 hours and then are off, automatically, for 18 hours before they come back on.  This provides a savings in batteries, but they flicker and the flame is orange.  This is an improvement over last year, but still not what we want.  On Sunday, the 26th, we purchased a tree from the same lot we have used for several years and brought it home. Mother joined us (and our traditional two bottles of chilled cold duck) to trim the tree.  There is not a lot of new stuff this year. On Monday, the 27th (a non-activated weather make-up day), we were both off from work and we put a little time into "exterior illumination."  We lit a tree bed on the south side of the driveway and went around the beds on the north side of the house. Alas, these do not image well in the dark, so there are no pictures. I put three of the 100-light strings around the pool, so we enjoy them throughout the night.  I bought 12 100-light strings at the close of last year's season, on sale, to accomplish this project.  I'm trying not to be Clark W. Griswald at this, but that is for others to judge. Thus far, a few evenings of wet weather continuously blow the GFI into which the lights are plugged, so I closer to being "Clark" than I'd like.
The new fresh tree has been brought home from the lot and is, at this point, pristine and unfettered. I first added the lights while Lyd put other stuff around the house Here is the finished product, with lights and a lot of ornaments. Lyd decided not to put all of the ornaments on the tree; we accumulate more every year. The Maryland heron gains a jaunty cap for the holiday season. There are no new 'crackers this year. We have seen some bigger than Pete (far right), but have resisted acquisition. The plumper Santas are on the chest in the living room. The slender Santas are in serving tray on the bar.