Preparations of Christmas

Okay, finishing up the remaining action items I had:

1. Scent for artificial Christmas trees. We tried "Scentsicles" (just Google it...everyone sells them) and they work pretty well. They are a thin scented "stick" that comes with an ornament hook to hang on a branch of the tree. You get a bunch of them and they recommend that you place four of them on the tree at once and replace them every two weeks. My wife put up two of them and felt that it was overwhelming so she cut it back down to one ornament. We both agreed that they smell very much like a real Christmas tree so they are worth checking out. I asked my 22-year-old daughter if they smelled authentic and she shrugged her shoulders because we have never had a real tree, so she is not sure what it would smell like. That made me a little sad. But I got over it quick when I considered the PITA real trees are.

2. I realized that it might be better to do the reindeer close up that @Content Maestro requested at dusk as opposed to in the dark, so here it is:



Note that these are probably 12 years old and have been through a lot. One year, some neighborhood prankster decided that they needed to be mating and posed them that way for when we woke up in the morning. Broke most of the light bulbs that time and bent some of the wire frame. Storage every year is rough on them, too.

3. Since I thought that I did a horrible job on the night picture of the house, here is one that I also just took at dusk. The lights do not show as well, so this may not be any better. By the way, I would consider our house to be middle of the road when it comes to outside decorations in the neighborhood. There are houses with a lot less or no decorations and houses with a lot, lot more. The pictures would be more attractive if there was a cover of snow on the ground, but, as the guy who has to shovel it, I am really happy that we have none and are not expecting any for Christmas.



4. I want to seriously thank @qwikad.com for starting this thread. I am SURE that I got more enjoyment from it than anyone else.

5. Finally, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

 

Looks great @jrbiz, simply awesome! Sorry for the inconvenience though.
Thanks a ton again and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

I'd like to say we went "all out" this year but sadly that's not true. We actually have put aside a tad bit of cash to be able to celebrate together with just a few small gifts and a meal I'm still excited though because personally, I think Christmas is more about the lord and family rather than giving. I'm truly blessed for what I do have in life and I would never take it for granted. I do really enjoy giving though, it's something that makes me feel warm hearted ♥