I have been getting the house "Christmasy" this weekend. I bought a tree last weekend and decorated it yesterday. It looks great; it's an 8 foot Scotch pine that I put in the "great hall". The great hall is my entry foyer; it's a two-plus story tall open space at the front of the house. The tree looks great there; it's against my spiral staircase. I bought a bunch of ornaments at Target two weeks ago (nice ones, glass!) and some lights and pulled it all together. I am very pleased with myself! :-) Hopefully the cats won't attack the tree too much (although I've already lost two ornaments thanks to Figaro); they have pretty much left it alone since it came inside last weekend.



The outside lights are all up and working nicely. The first owner of my house was a contractor who was also very into Christmas and decorations. He put 3 power boxes under the eaves of the house on the first floor; I don't have to run extension cords anywhere; the lights just plug in under the roof. Very convenient. I figured out where in the garage the wiring is and hooked up a pair of programmable timers to control the on/off times. Geek Christmas.



I hung the wreath I bought (same place as the tree) in front of the door. it looks pretty nice. I decorated it with some glass ornaments, a red bod and a big jingle bell. Maybe next year I'll add some small lights.



I saw the ocean again from my balcony this morning. I really enjoy looking out and seeing it, even if it's just a sliver of steel gray just past the final ridge between my house and the water. I've been seeing it a lot this month; the cold, clear air really brings it out. I only saw it once or twice all summer; too much haze. Since the back of the house faces south and east, it's probably 10 miles away. Still, it's better than I *ever* had in Silicon Valley or anywhere else I've lived, except for maybe my cool surf crash pad I had a six years ago in downtown Huntington Beach.