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.

A charmingly late Thanksgiving

Last year, we had an "alternate" Thanksgiving dinner: sushi. That's because we were still camping in our rental house and had no means to cook a fancy dinner.

This year, because Older Daughter and I both had to work on Thanksgiving, we postponed our celebration until Sunday. At that point Older Daughter was able to take Monday off, so she came up early Sunday and spent the night.

I took the turkey out of the freezer and put it in the fridge a week ahead of time. We actually bought this turkey something like two years ago and it's been living in our freezer ever since. It's nice to have the space back.

Since Older Daughter was bringing veggies and dessert, my day was actually very easy. I started by making rolls, specifically half-time spoon rolls. First rising:

Second rising:

Done (after being brushed with melted butter):

While I worked on these, believe it or not Don was assembling the Christmas tree (!!). We didn't have one last year since we moved here to our new house just days before Christmas, so I think he just missed engaging in the festivities.

Besides, he unashamedly intended to put Older Daughter to work decorating the tree while she was here.

I made wild rice stuffing, my personal indulgence.

Also mashed potatoes.

I kept up with dishes so nothing got overwhelming.

We put the turkey in the oven about the time Older Daughter showed up.

While the turkey baked, we took Mr. Darcy for a walk, then all pitched in to decorate the Christmas tree.

Then Older Daughter put the finishing touches on her desserts: pistachio pie and French silk pie. Looks professional, no?

The French silk pie gave her no end of trouble. The day before, she'd messaged: "Yeesh, I just messed up on every single step of that French silk pie (that's what I get for not triple-checking the recipe), but I finally wrangled it into a pie shape and the filling tastes quite good. Whew!" (Both pies were delicious.)

She also brought ingredients for her specialty, green beans in oyster sauce. Out-of-this-world good.

We had just pulled the turkey out of the oven...

...when we all simultaneously happen to see one of the prettiest sunsets we'd seen since moving here. We all tumbled outside to admire it.

A distant farmhouse looked magical.

Back indoors, Don carved the turkey...

...and we all sat down to our feast.

We have so much to be grateful for this year, it's hard to know where to begin. God is good.

Preparing for Christmas

Last week Younger Daughter put her foot down and announced, in the face of Don's and my laziness, that enough was enough and she was setting up the Christmas tree.

This is fairly easy to do because last year we transitioned (gasp!) to a fake tree.

I miss the days when we tromped through the snowy woods to locate the best tree we could find; but we now have the compensating virtue that my husband can breathe with comfort through the month of December.

So Younger Daughter got to work, starting with moving her parrot Lihn's cage out of the corner where we normally put the tree, and put her in front of the window.

Then we hauled down the tree box and started unpacking it.

I still think artificial trees are kinda funky...

...but there's no question the results are consistent.

We tested lights before stringing them on.

It only took us an hour or so to get the ornaments on...

...and it only took Lydia a little longer than that to claim the space behind her tree has her "cave."

Then, on a day Younger Daughter was out of the house, Don and I pulled out all the wrapping supplies, and wrapped presents.

A tree always looks prettier with packages underneath.

Older Daughter will be flying in on Christmas Eve, thanks to the hard-working personnel working for airlines and airports across the country. We'll have her until just after New Year's. We know we won't be able to have our girls with us every year for Christmas, so we'll count our blessings while we can.