'Nordmann' is in the garage......

We have a living Christmas tree, a Nordmann Fir, fondly known as 'Nordmann', and he is back in the garage. You have to 'step' a living tree in out of the cold, keep it inside for only a week or so, and then 'step' it back out into the cold. Nordmann is in the garage acclimating to the great outdoors, and there are a lot of other fun things out there with Nordmann. Heaven help us, should the garage ever catch on fire! There are things drying out there. Fun things from the summer garden......

As Christmas went into boxes today, I couldn't resist playing with some of the fun stuff that was in the garage....

The fake, red berry wreath ended up here instead of in a box bound for the attic.....

A friend gave me an amaryllis, and it seems to be happy sitting on my grandmother's sewing machine. For years the sewing machine sat under the attic steps at my parent's house, and now it is our end table. (You should see all of the fun, old buttons I found in the drawers.)

The Advent candle shell tray has been rearranged a bit to hide all of the wax drips from those, eh-hem, 'no drip candles' I paid dearly for. (Remind me not to buy those candles next year.)

I really should have been working on lesson plans today since we resume homeschool tomorrow, and I have to teach at Classical Conversations on Tuesday. As Christmas went into the boxes in the garage, though, it was much more fun to fill in those empty, formerly-Christmas-spaces with fun things from my family. My birthday is the day after Christmas, so there are fun spoils this time of year. A canning jar lantern from an artisan up in the San Juan Islands.......

My favorite new thing from my sister--a French glove form.

OK-- Now I really have to work on lesson plans, laundry, lesson plans, dishes, lesson plans..............