At least the tree looks good...

... though the photographs are not the best. Ah well, maybe Santa will bring me a nice camera for Christmas this year!

So the story goes- we have had the same tree since before we were married. A lovely, vintage model that was older than my husband, and a total pain to put together. The base was gerry-rigged, it swayed precariously unless we spent hours tinkering with the various arms- but it was beautiful when I finally finished trimming it. It was lovely this year, too- for the 15 minutes it was up! It didn't take long this year (after about 5 minutes of pretty creative swearing) to decide that we needed a new tradition. So off hubby goes- and comes back with this giant.

A full 9 feet tall, it just fits against the foyer ceiling. I must admit that I was pretty skeptical about how it would look, but I am warming to it. It is a pain to decorate, though- I might just make him do it next year!

One of the reasons that I love decorating the tree is that there are so many memories that we have collected together.

This year, the kids helped make some cinnamon-applesauce ornaments, and Dome has already made several at pre-school. It is so nice to have them really involved for the first time!

Here is one of my favorites- a ceramic "Cat-Fish". Pull the cord and his head and tail bobs! The "Tumbler" from the Dark Knight series - guess who picked that one out? The Dark Knight himself watches over the tree - perched at the angel topper's feet...

My favorite dinosaur (Ankylosaurus)...

My butterfly- picked up during our anniversary trip this year (husband gamely trouped through three towns in search of antiques (ok, junk!)- what a trouper! The pic is from Dome's first visit to Santa- and the only one pic that we have were he isn't completely hysterical...

I made these cherubs for our wedding- they are just plastic wedding cake decorations with a little bit of rub-on gold wax. A bit of ribbon and they look just lovely. The picture of Gromit (from Wallace and Gromit) just behind is from a set that I made for our first Christmas together.

And, of course- last, but not least! No tree would be complete without a Wobbegong shark- he even blends in with the other decorations. Talented, those Wobbes...

Still working on the hats and scarves (if you can call two bags worth of fleece and notions languishing in the trunk of my car "progress"), and hopefully I will have them done this weekend.