going overboard

Even though the House Tour isn't a decoration contest, the tour organizers kept asking me (when trying to schedule pictures for the paper) if I'd done any decorating yet, and I kept saying no, because I wouldn't have time until the five days off over Thanksgiving, so I had put a few things up but not much. All this nagging had me going overboard. My usual decoration runs to a tree and a door decoration, and a centerpiece for the table. But gilding the bird's nest got me started.

I put pine cones in things.

I put the cedar I cut off the bottom of the trees in a washtub to keep it from drying out until I could use it, and when the tour organizers brought me the sign-in sheet and looked over the house they liked it and told me not to throw it out. I hope the guests liked it. I thought it was a bit back-country.

Then I put a tree up in what's now the guest room,

in addition to the main tree

and I put pine and cedar in things

and around things

and on things, combined with lights and ornaments as a sort of horizontal tree

Everybody liked the bird's nest, and a great many people walked in and exclaimed "Oh! You have a real tree!" in surprise and pleasure.