Getting ready for Christmas - Part 1

Vacation time, yay! I have a long list of things I should be doing and a list of things I'm actually looking forward to. I already know that the long list won't be much shorter at the end of my vacation, the other one, well, we'll see.

First on the list is decorating for Christmas. I'm by no means a big decorator and it has become even less since der Dekan moved in because some things are just too risky around him. I'm not going to put up my Moravian stars for example, cords are far too tempting for him.

So, last year I had a really hard time to motivate myself and ended up with a completely empty house hallway, but my little tree with its sparse decoration made me - and den Dekan - very happy.
I don't know if you have seen any of my last year's advent calendar posts, but it was sad that I couldn't put any of the ornaments I made on my tree. There is just too much time in there for den Dekan to have fun with them. They will get their chance to shine in the hallway this year, I just hope I'm not going to run out of space, but I can always leave out some of the not handmade pieces.
A friend suggested to make a garland for my beaded ornaments to hang from the ceiling, but my ceiling is too high for my taste. Ladders and I are not friends.

Today I started by putting up my little tree. This year, I got a special surprise for den Dekan although I knew of course that I will probably have to be stooping down a lot during the next few weeks, picking up ornaments and putting them back on the tree.
Last year he went absolutely wild with the gnome girl, so this year I got him a whole pack.



Of course Gundel is more than welcome to join in, but so far she has only paid a short visit to the tree. She usually starts playing with toys at night, though, so who knows what's going to happen.

My gift was a full success.
Der Dekan had to wait outside while I trimmed the tree with the victims, uhm, gnomes, my pineapple slices and some other unbreakables. I wanted to avoid a Pink Panther scene of me putting up ornaments on one side and him pulling them off on the other, working our way around the tree.
When I opened the door, der Dekan played it cool for about five seconds and then he went right in as expected.
About fifteen seconds in, the first gnome fell, seconds later the first pineapple slice, and right after that the second gnome. Then he threw himself between tree and the light arch and started pushing with all four.

Don't think he's constantly in the tree. He will launch an attack, go crazy for a bit, storm off and then come back to sleep in his Christmas bed next to the tree or his donut behind the tree - until the next attack. I have no idea what sets him off.
His second attack was swift and effective - four pineapple rings and four gnomes.
So far I haven't been lucky to get anything but blurry pictures of him in action, but here are a few general impressions.

And here's a rare Gundel sighting.
Good luck seeing anything in that photo but a dark shadow!