It took us a few days, but we got the great room decorated, including trimming both our artificial and natural (and we hope live) tree to the nines. This may be the best real Christmas tree we’ve ever had as a couple, and our hope is that with careful watering it will keep us until Epiphany.
If we have to take it down sooner, well, the experiment was worth doing. Here’s a shot of our real tree, in the corner by the bar:
We don’t use the bar for drinking, so it presents a nice place for decorations, this year including our creche and Carol’s Plasticville Farm, complete with farm animals and a corral of giant bichons:
We’re going to set up the Lionel trains this year, including my father’s 1926 set that is now 98 years old. The venerable #250 electric loco still rips around the track as it doubtless did when my dad was a toddler. We’ll also be running Carol’s Lionel set from the late ‘50s; however, the trains will have to wait until after the cleaning service goes through and mops the tile floor.
I’ll take some pictures of the artificial tree and will post them as time permits. We’ve started Christmas a little early this year, just to see what it’s like to get all Christmas-y on November 29 instead of December 15th or so. Like I said, I’ll keep you posted.
It’s gorgeous, Jeff! Yes, the train would be a perfect finishing touch.
Susan and I are moving to a patio home (we just can’t deal with stairs any more). All the Christmas stuff is packed, but perhaps we can find it in time for the holidays.
I just sold my American Flyer S-gauge trains last week. This was my beloved toy in the 1950’s. There was a train show in town, so I took it all to see what I could get for it. Answer: Not much. S-gauges just isn’t nearly as popular as O or HO gauges.
PS I made a new decoration for this year. See
The Christmas trains I had as a kid were American Flyer S-gauge as well. My dad bought a big set somewhere (I never thought to ask him where) for Christmas 1956 (I was 4) and that’s what we used until Gretchen and I left home. She still has the American Flyer set in a box in the garage. Her kids never seemed interested, so it’s still in the box. It was a very nice set, with both a Diesel and a steam loco, at a much more realistic scale than Lionel. I have pictures somewhere, which I’ll post in the runup to Christmas.