Tis the Season...

The season of Advent is evident all around us. Decorations are being hung, cookies being baked, and friendly wishes of a Merry Christmas are being exchanged. Actually, in these times I suppose it would be proper to say "the holidays". Happy holidays...do you have friends coming over for the holidays? I wonder what I should get her for the holidays...it doesn't exactly have that same ring to it. However, I am not against either the recognition of other celebrations that occur around this time of year or the incidental movement away from the holiday meant for Christians to celebrate the birth of their Savior being branded as an occasion for overconsumption. I also realize that that's not what this blog is about. So back we shall go to relevance.

Although there is barely room, and we barely had time that day, we put up the Christmas tree on the first Sunday of Advent as we have done most other years according to family tradition. Other decorations around the Shack are fairly minimal due to the total lack of space. One thing we did this year that we never have done, and likely will never do again, was hang our stockings on screws driven into the living/dining room wall. We also have a lovely little lights display outside in the one part of our yard that still resembles a yard. Lights were beautifully strung around a park bench beside a tree, then wound around said tree, by my father. The one disappointment with this setup is the fact that he hooked them up to a timer, the idea being that the lights would be on when it was dark outside, which at this point is most of the time. However, this timer has different ideas...that, or it just has trouble keeping up, because the lights have not been going on regularly without precise maintenance. Despite all this, the Shack certainly has elements of cheer about it. Dad describes the decorations as "lipstick on a pig". I would think he'd be more kindly towards the Shack, since this was all his idea. Sometimes it just feels good to reiterate that fact.

Here are a few photos of our decorations/decorating process. Miraculously, Blogger agreed with me today!

The stockings! When in doubt, fasten things to the wall with screws or nails.

Raya in tree-decorating action.

Mom re-acquaints herself with an old friend, the artificial Christmas tree.

This shows Dad's role in the decoration process...