Okay, it’s time for another photo blog entry! This one — unlike the food-heavy entry about my trip to Tempe — will be completely unprofessional. Enough music stuff for a few days…

So, AEJ and I put up our tree on Sunday! We love it. It’s the tallest tree I’ve ever had, standing almost 9 feet high! (Note to self: 9′ trees are heavy. Next year, opt for delivery.)

Before we headed out to get the tree, AEJ tried on the tree skirt, just to make sure it would fit.



It fit great, and Loki approved, so we started our quest for Our Tree.

We found a great one. Here it is before we unwrapped it. As I said, it’s tall (and in this picture, quite crooked).

After setting it free from that horrible netting, AEJ climbed the ladder and put the star on top. We decided it was easier to put the star on top at the beginning rather than the end, because the tree — we named it Fances, or maybe Frances (it’s a boy, unlike last year’s tree, Fancy) — would get fatter as the branches settled, and it would only get more difficult to reach the top. (Note that AEJ is always the one on the ladder, as she’s considerably taller than I, which comes in very handy for star attachment. Don’t confuse her with the Bumble from Rudolph, though.)

Now it’s time to put on the lights!

It’s taking a long time to finish the tree. Fortunately, the snowmen and snowwomen can keep themselves warm by the candle.

We need more lights! I’ll open the box, with Loki’s “help”.

We can’t forget to hang the stockings by the fire…

Which are our favorite ornaments this year? It’s hard to pick favorites — they’re like children! (or, maybe not) — but my favorite new ornament this year is this one:

… whereas AEJ’s favorite is the squirrel:

And we’re done! We love the tree, and miraculously, Loki has largely ignored it so far. He likes sitting under it, and hiding behind the presents. (Hey — how are there presents there already? Did Santa come early? And one of the presents is already unwrapped! What’s going on here?!)

Happy holidays, everybody! And don’t worry; the blog will return to less picturesque entries soon.