Christmas Has Come To Mars

Monday, December 17, is one year to the day from when we moved out of the cozy 600 square foot apartment to the palatial 1000 square feet that is Mars.

Our Christmas tree in the apartment was a 4-inch-tall plastic Playmobil tree, borrowed from what I used to call the "Cruelty to Animals Play Set" -- a bear with a harness & chain, along with a family carrying musical instruments who I assume are supposed to be "gypsies" -- which I got at a toy store years ago in college, in a town so liberal, that its very presence in the store was remarkable & bizarre. I couldn't resist buying it, just for its sheer weirdness.

Anyway, a tree that is 4 inches tall makes a lot of sense in a small apartment. We used to stack the presents up, stick the tree on top of the stack, & have a good chuckle at the joke that the presents were still, technically, under the tree.

Last year, as we prepared to make the move to Mars, we found a discarded branch from a real Christmas tree just outside our doorstep, where the nearby hardware store preps its trees for customers. We thought, why not do something a little different this year? It survived the move to Mars, & made it into the center of our 2011 Christmas Tableau:

Hey, sorta classy!

This year, we actually can't find the Playmobil tree in this expansive mansion, but we did get lucky again & find a bough from a neighbor's tree on the sidewalk last weekend. It was weirdly shaped & top-heavy, so we couldn't make it work as a stand-up tree. Just as I was about to lose my patience and *make* *it* *fit*, Adrienne suggested that we lay it down on the table, & decorate it with a bunch of paper crafts from a book that Mama O'Brien sent to us last year for Christmas. Genius!

We spent the rainy Saturday afternoon folding & cutting. Zoey, as usual, spent the afternoon sleeping in positions that just can't be comfortable, such as this one:

Also, as usual, she was unable to provide material help:

"I would totally help you with that snowflake, but I have trouble with scissors."

Her moral support was still appreciated.

After we got the paper folded & cut, we started decorating, beginning with Momma Arave's Christmas Mobile:

Then Mama & Papa O'Brien's Christmas stockings went up on the still-unfinished built-in:

And finally, the branch, presents, & paper craft display were set up on the dining room table:

Two of our cut outs -- I made trees, & Adrienne made especially excellent reindeer.

Snowflakes!

And here's the whole thing put together: