Fa La La La Gobble!

I took my in-laws to the airport this morning.
After a decompression day to recover from the Thanksgiving hub-bub, I am back at the blog!

Thanks to Tam at The Gypsy's Corner for Three Or More Tuesday
and Susan at Thoughts from Over The Rainbow for Deck The Halls,
a holiday decor showcase.
Check 'em out, man! Just click on the highlighted words, or the logos below.

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For me, the essence of Christmas decorating is the Tree.

I am besotted with Christmas Trees, and have one in just about every room at That Old House.
Last year we had two full-size trees -- a "faux" in the Parlor, and a "real" in the Conservatory.

I have to admit, the faux (next to the camelback sofa) looked pretty good, and it held those big heavy ornaments that always slide off the branches of the real trees. However, I do love the slightly goofy shape of the real tree, with its wild branches in random pattern.

This year, we'll put the faux back in the parlor, although perhaps in a different corner. And a real tree will go in the sunroom, but also in a different corner. Stay tuned!

There are many, many, many, many hundreds of ornaments on these two trees, and Howard and I need to haul them all down from the attic. Well, mostly Howard. He does the pack mule work, I do the decorating.

Last year, as the girls and I unwrapped ornaments and put them on the conservatory tree, Howard napped on a nearby loveseat:

He finally woke, covered with the padding paper, and claimed to have been awake the entire time. Sure he was.

Other trees destined to make a comeback this year are the dining room tree,
although it may be in a different form!

And the powder room tree, in the Santa boot, and decorated with tiny glass Santas:

My family finds it slightly disturbing that I have a small tree in the powder room.

Yes, I'm cracked.

So cracked that I never got good pictures of our Thanksgiving Day feast!

Instead, I have a few hasty shots of befores and afters . . . raw cranberries and the sauce they turned into, the parlor with its furniture pushed back to make room for a drinks table and more chairs, stacks of Thanksgiving dinnerware and clean dry wineglasses waiting to go home to the breakfronts, napkins and tablecloths clean and ready to be put away, the butler's pantry showing signs of its duty as a coffee station, a bit of leftover pie, a dining room full of chairs after the long rental tables were gone, and washed silver flatware not yet stowed.

And Dion, thinking he didn't get enough of that Giant Parakeet that smelled so good.

My centerpiece on the grownups' table was the ruby flash glass compote, with big glossy red grapes draping down over it, and a chunky candle in the middle. My guests ate most of the centerpiece.

Happy Decorating! -- Cass