I am almost finished decorating the family room for Christmas…sans tree.  We do not put a tree up until the eve of Christmas Eve.    We like a “live” tree, and I don’t want to worry about a tree drying out.    But still..I don’t wanna wait until that close to Christmas to have that Chrismas-y feel!  Here’s where that pretty tree will go when it DOES arrive…right in this corner.   I can just see it…smell it!

This is a comfortable room. It used to be a garage, and we turned it into a den to try and keep the doggies out of the house for at least a portion of the time. It worked until they became too feeble to climb steps. 🙁

Do you see the little wooden truck on the hearth? This post is about that little truck and what it’s hauling. It’s full of gourds. While putting the garland up on the front porch…I thought “what the heck am I going to do with the gourds?” Last year, I had loads of them–perfectly round– and I spray painted them gold and piled them everywhere. This year, however, I just have a few gourds…all of them looking like large pears. Here they are in their fall clothing…before they got all fancy for Christmas.   They were really into fall…they even wore a monogram.

And they were hanging around on the porch…that’s where I found them today.

Begging not to be thrown away, they asked about a spray tan. “What?” “Yes…a spray tan…we want a spray tan like the gourds got last year!” I then realized they were talking about being spray painted gold. “Oh…sure,” I replied..”why not?”    And here they are!

And now they are ready to roll with their new look. I don’t think I can trust these flashy gourds. They’ve went out and got “lit.”

And do you know what I hear when walk by this little truck? They giggle and say “Merry Christmas!” Really!