The Scroogie mood is starting to lift, maybe, just a little bit.  Maddy helped me put the tree in the stand on Sunday night -- there was a little bit of comedy involving crookedness and falling over, but we did it.  It's been in the front room since Sunday night and I finally strung it with some lights.  These are "garland" lights, which Mom persuaded me to buy (and perhaps one more is needed).  They're very different, but the look is growing on me and I think I like it!

We haven't had a real tree in years.  I meant to buy a smaller one than the artificial tree we have (the one that's in the basement, already strung with lights, and basically "free"), but it's really only about 6" shorter, though, in casual conversation, I've been saying it's a foot.

I'm getting excited about decorating the tree now.  This year, it's going to have only the girls' ornaments.  St. Nicholas has brought each of them an ornament every year, plus they each have some that they've made and that others have made for them.  Any one of these years, Katie and Ali, in particular, might be wanting their ornaments to decorate their own little trees.  I thought this would be fun.  Ali tried to hang her most recent ornament on the tree and we were reminded that sturdiness of branches was one of the big benefits to an artificial tree.

I had fun on the tree lot, choosing the one I liked best, and this morning I started getting excited about decorating it after Christmas -- with peanut butter pinecones and suet and birdseed -- and finding a place for it outside.