Sorry, ks, but I can't help--you are 100% ahead of me--I just have the wreath on the door, didn't feel like doing lights on the porch.

Since it's just me, the cats, and a housemate who isn't much into Christmas, I saw no point to doing much more--most of my old friends live out of town, and family doesn't visit so why bother? I have a smallish tree I can put up, old ornaments, some green garland but I just wasn't motivated this year. Ornaments are risky on a tree anyway thanks to curious and smart Siamese. :)

Merry Christmas from a dreary Ohio--rainy, chilly, and we aren't even going to get any snow by New Years!

Here's a shot of our tree from outside. (It's actually a picture from a couple years ago, before the kitchen was redone, but the tree is in the same place).

Ah, CG - it's Christmas Eve already? We're running out of time, friend. :-)
(I'm still wondering what happened to October...). What's frustrating is that, even though we bought this house in the spring, one of the things that "sold" me was how pretty it would look with full-on Christmas decorations. White icycle lights along the roofline, greenery around the white columns, red bows (I usually do that, not this year tho), etc.

Alas, it's a tall peaked roof, & DH decided to be afraid of being more than 6' off the ground. We even considered renting a cherry-picker to put up permanent lights, but didn't get to it. (Old house, you know.. Every year something comes up. Or, more accurately, "down", lol!).

Next year, we'll pay someone to do it. For real, this time!

Jakabedy - that's beautiful! Such a huge tree, with all white lights - its simple, it's classy, it's perfect. :-)
(I'll bet you don't "throw stones" from that glass house of yours, lol!).

Another one here whose motivation was only bare minimum. I worked in my front room like a fiend from Oct thru Nov to finish painting the window trim, restore the baseboards & mantle, & clean up/paint the walls after they were skimcoated (the workers' must have had a different definition than mine). On Thanksgiving, it looked gorgeous when we served dinner for 12 - & no one noticed the difference even though these are the same people who've made catty remarks for years!

The next weekend, I made & put up exterior evergreens which were promptly destroyed by a freak thunderstorm/gale that blew thru & removed them from the property. So much for that effort. I decorated my newly restored mantle with magnolia & pine arangement (which I normally love) & it looked sterile. After that I said the hell with it -I've had enough!

Christmas, did I miss it? What date is it today?

I felt like I missed Christmas this year, hopefully next year, God willing, I'll enjoy it. I've never worked so hard in my life, as we restore our old 1937 home. We just opened up a 1 can of worms after another! We finally are preparing clean-up and will be moving in within the next few weeks!! Still will have a ton left to do (mostly painting inside - lots outside), but the majority of the mess will be gone. My body is poor shape.. swollen finger joints, cuts and bruises all over. I'm tired.... if I could turn back the clocks, I think I would have passed on this house!

Jakabedy- Nice picture!

Tinker- You made it! When you get to the point, where you're doubting you ever should have done this...that's usually when you're almost done. By spring/summer, you'll be out enjoying your view and SO happy you did all this work. It's a beautiful home you've brought back to life, so enjoy it and be proud! :)