It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like......

There is a wrapping frenzy going on at my house these days.  I have gotten all of the gifts that need to be posted wrapped and sent on their way, except for this last one, above.  It's going to my friend in Douglas, Alaska, and I'll be mailing it today.  Can you guess what it might be, Sandy?  I found it for you in Fort Collins last August.

 And then, I have only a few more gifts to wrap and thank goodness that pesky wrapping is (mostly) done!  Does anyone else find the job of wrapping all the gifts about the least fun thing about the holidays?  I was chatting about this very subject with the checker at the grocery store the other day and she reported that she pays her children to wrap their siblings' gifts.  I couldn't have done that with mine....they would have paid each other major bribe money to find out if "Santa" had followed orders and gotten them their hearts' desire....

My little Tata truck is full of seasonal greenery....

....and the tree is decked from top to bottom with favorite ornaments.  This blown glass swan with the impossible neck is a new find this year.  Who could resist such a long necked beauty?  Certainly not me!

Many of the ornaments I've acquired over the  years remind me of travels.  This one reminds me of my time in Shigaraki, Japan, studying ceramics.

And, of course, many of the ornaments are Santas.  I love Santa and am drawn to his image in a variety of ornaments.

This weathered Santa is a real favorite of mine.  We share a hair style.....it's called Bed Head and while I do have the wrinkles, I do not have the beard.

I'm not much of a glitter girl, but at Christmas time I do love the way a little silver glitter sparkles under the Christmas tree lights....

I have been lucky enough to inherit some wonderful vintage glass balls and I've found a few more to add to the collection at yard sales and Goodwill over the years.  I love them piled in my painted wooden bowl.  Of course, when the grandchildren arrive, I'll have to put them up in a safe place!

The wonderful Santa-in-his-sleigh cookie jar that my darling mother-in-law gave to me many years ago always has pride of place on the credenza in the dining room.  It's empty still, but soon......

Late last night, long after my DH had gone on to bed, as I was tidying up and turning off lights, I found mousie watching TV.  A Christmas movie on the Hallmark channel, no less.  Kind of mousie to use the earphones so as not to disturb DH, wasn't it?   (My DH is always putting that silly mousie somewhere odd.  When I returned from California I found him on the dining room table, surrounded by a "house" made of packages that had arrived in my absence!)

Bumbus asleep in her crib

And soon, babies will be sleeping, all snug in their beds.....HERE, with ME!  For Christmas!