We did not decorate for Christmas last year because we left for Florida on December 26th. We did not want to return in mid-January to a house full of Christmas tchotchkes that needed to be cleaned up. So, we were the grumpy couple who went home to a sterile house where we sat in the dark quiet of cheerlessness.

Anyway, that's what I remember the most about last Christmas. I think Dickens summed it up quite well (if I've got the line right): "Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it." I'll tell ya—cheap and a whole lot easier on the effort scale, too. I was headed that way again this year, remembering the effort I didn't have to expend. I can be a bit miserly with my effort you know; I don't want to throw it away just anywhere. Sounds like I need a good kick from a few ghosts, eh?

Well, I really didn't want it to come to that (the hauntings), so I made a point to put up the tree today. Nick had a bad case of DOMS that kept him couch-bound most of the day, but his comments on how I was doing everything (and how it could be done better) were invaluable. Sophie helped me, though. She was very excited to see the tree since she was denied last year.

And at some point during the process, I lost the sarcasm and started having a lot of fun. I became so disgustingly cheerful that I stopped scolding Sophie for taking swipes at my ankles every time I passed while stringing the beads. Go ahead, trip me! Attack my toes! Gnaw the branches! AND MERRRRRRRY CHRISTMAS!

She's hardly left her place on the tree skirt since she and I finished wrestling while I tried to straighten the darn thing. I think she likes the heat from the lights. In any case, she's a cute little present to have sitting under our Christmas tree!