More decking.

Finally! A nice, sunshiny day for getting our outside lights up. The sunny weather was the good news; the nasty wind was the bad! Tip: If you're going to put up an 8-foot inflatable Bevo, it might be a good idea to pick a day when the wind's NOT gusting 30 mph! (Unfortunately--or fortunately for me--it's impossible to take pictures when you're wrestling a giant orange steer.)

Also? Thinking your Christmas lights only have to work for one more Christmas is the surest way to know they won't work AT ALL. Several of our stupid light strings are dead, dead, dead, and since we're hoping to be in a different house by next Christmas, we hate to invest too much for decorations here. But could I really live with half our roof unlit? Nah.

Taking advantage of the nice weather, Brett cleaned out the shed, and guess what he found?

YES!!!!!! He found the Granny decorations! I'm SO, SO, SO happy to have that box safe and sound inside our house. WOO-HOO!

He also found an unlabeled box that had some miscellaneous items in it, including a couple of decorations I thought had been lost when we got rid of our old Christmas tree. There was the Christmas card holder that I hadn't been able to replace; there was the mod wooden Christmas tree that reminded me of my Austin days. Talk about serendipity! I was optimistic we'd find the Granny stuff, but this box? Big-time BONUS!