Our tree is up and decorated. I think December 7th might be the earliest I’ve put up a Christmas tree since we got married. I like to focus on Advent in the first part of December, so we don’t usually put the tree up till after the 15th at the earliest. But I already know we’ll be super busy next weekend, and the weekend after that we might be busy too…so this weekend it had to be. And you know what?

I’m totally okay with it. Maybe it’s because Annalie is older now and she gets soooo excited about all things Christmas. She squeezes each moment for all the joy and drama she can get out of it. She says things like, “It’s the prettiest Santa I’ve ever seen!!!” about each ornament as it’s unwrapped. It’s hilarious and makes the whole process that much more enjoyable for the grown-ups.

Three of the ornaments on our tree this year are new, courtesy of the Color Me Happy Swaparooni’s Ornament Swap. I got partnered with Amanda this time. She glittered the lime and lemon ornaments herself. Aren’t they gorgeous?

If you know me, you know I love citrus colors and flavors and scents. These are just plain perfect for me. We have a lemon tree and a lime tree in our yard right now, so in future years when we’re decorating the tree we can pull these out of the box and say, “Annalie, remember when you were 4 and we lived in California and we had the lime and lemon trees?” Thank you so much, Amanda, I really do love them! (I do also love the photo ornament you sent, but I don’t have any photos to put in it yet. I’ll probably get around to that in April or May, knowing me.)

Amanda’s son Wildman made these adorable popsicle-stick reindeer ornaments for his friends, with a little help from mom, and he sent one for Annalie. Wasn’t that nice of him? His younger brother Cutie Pie also picked out a Tinkerbell paper doll set for Annalie, which she opened and began playing with before I even had one of my ornaments open. Thanks, Wildman and Cutie Pie! Annalie was very happy to have her own presents to open.

Photo by sams&nickels

I was in such a hurry to get Amanda’s ornaments packaged up and mailed off (a day late, oops) that I totally forgot to take photos of them. Luckily, Amanda blogged about the ornament swap too, and included cute photos of her boys opening the candy-cane ornaments Annalie painted for them.

We also hung lights outside this weekend. We didn’t go too crazy. Just a simple string of lights along the front and one side of the house…and lights in the lemon tree!

Speaking of Christmas lights in the lemon tree, have you noticed my new banner? Thanks again, Brenda!

After we finished hanging the lights in the tree and on the house yesterday, Troy decided to hose down the patio. Annalie took that as her cue to change into a swimsuit.

Hanging Christmas lights outside and then thinking, Gee, I’m hot. I think I’ll cool off in my swimsuit and run through the sprinkler now: one of the many good things about life in Southern California.

I still kinda miss snow.

Annalie has been doing this thing lately where she goes outside, spreads a beach towel on the grass, and lays down on it with the umbrella open and propped up to shade her face from the sun. Usually she brings a snack and a couple of books and maybe one of her dolls, too. I don’t know where she got the idea, but I love that she does it.

In other news, I’m still sick. Pass me that box of Kleenex, will you?

I’ve been fighting a cold since we got back from Omaha. It’s not serious, but it’s persistent. I’ve been conserving my energy, sleeping a lot, and not doing much beyond the bare necessities of daily life. That’s why I have not been blogging much. Nothing interesting to take photos of or blog about…except the stuff I’ve been crocheting! I’ve been getting quite a few custom orders through my Etsy shop recently for crocheted snowballs. I just finished up the snowballs Annalie is holding for Nicole.

I also finally finished a custom order for Jennie, who asked me to make a flower scarf months ago. She made the mistake of telling me when she ordered this scarf last spring that she didn’t need it till early December. I took her at her word and put it on the waaaaay-back burner. I promised her I’d have it done on time. And would ya look at that? It’s December 1st and the scarf is done. Whew!