Christmas garlands

Older Daughter decided she was going to make the house festive this Christmas season. I'm not crafty in the slightest – in fact, you might call me anti-crafty – so watching someone create something like this out of nothing was lots of fun.

She started with oranges, which she sliced and dehydrated.

Next came cedar boughs. She told us she thought about purchasing fake branches, "but the realistic-looking ones were something like $100 each." Forget it, she said. I'll just go out in the woods and  get real ones.

And she did.

Interestingly, even though she tried to take no more than one branch from each tree, someone had been there before her and left behind a Christmas ornament, which she thought was charming. How many other people had seen this hidden bauble? Likely not many. But she saw it ... so it was special.

She came back with a tote full of cedar cuttings.

We also have a small fir tree in the driveway that's dying, so she snipped some of the still-green branches from it as well, to add extra body to her projects.

Then she laid everything out and started assembling the garlands.

She used a drill to insert some tiny hooks in strategic spots over windows and doors.

Then we carefully took the tied-together cedar garlands and lifted them into place, tucking the inner branches into the hooks. (No photos, sorry.)

Then she strung together some of the orange slices and added them to the garland.

A small string of lights, and the result was very festive indeed.

She added ornaments from the ends of the curtain rods for an extra garnish.

She repeated this over other door and window frames in the living room and kitchen.

Then she began assembling paper snowflakes and hanging them around the house.

Meanwhile, outdoors, Don tacked up colored lights. He wound them around porch rails, window frames, and under the eaves.

The result was splendid, especially in such a dark area as where we live.

Then we all got together and decorated the tree. It's times like this we really miss Younger Daughter.

So here are the results of everyone's efforts, taken in the early morning when it was still dark. (That's Darcy lying in the middle of the living room floor.)

Kitchen:

I don't think the house has ever looked this festive. Kudos to Older Daughter for her creativity indoors, and Don for his creativity outdoors.