More decor galore...

...sorry. Just can't help rhyming, especially after just reading "The Cat in the Hat" with my boy.

Here's a peek into my little guy's room. He was very proud of the tree we set up next to his bed, and I really did let him put most of the ornaments on it himself. Most of the ornaments are passed down from my childhood, and we are slowly adding one or two a year to his collection. This year I actually added a glass ornament (brave, I know!) that I found and just could not pass up -- a Peter Pan ornament complete with pirate ship, Cap'n Hook, Peter Pan, and crocodile. I did hang it securely up at the very top, and so far, so good.




Do you spot the train whizzing by up on the shelf? (The picture's kind of dark, so you might have to click on it and make it bigger to see the train.) My husband finally wired it all up properly this week, and the buildings now light up as well. The train speeds by at three different speeds, all around the ceiling, across a little bridge, through one end of the bed and out the other end through the bookcase, around and around and around. It also sounds a very realistic whistle, has a headlight on the front, and even blows tiny puffs of real smoke! Talk about living vicariously through our child -- I would have gone crazy if I had such a cool setup in my room when I was growing up.

And just to prove that you can still buy things for a dime or two...

all year long I collected Christmas books from the thrift store. Most were between 10 cents and $2, and by December, I had about twenty or so collected for us to read, usually one or two a night, all kept in that red wooden bin you can see underneath his tree. Some of the books were practically brand new. In fact, the new hardback copy of "The Polar Express" with the untorn and wrinkle-free book jacket intact still had the Borders sticker on the back reading $18.95. That baby set me back a whopping $1.50. But one of the favorites ended up being a big paperback book that cost me either one dime or two (I can't remember) -- an unused paperback copy of "The Night Before Christmas" complete with two sheets of stickers that had to be placed in just the right spot throughout the book to complete the pictures. My boy was so proud of himself when he got all of those stickers in their rightful spots, and we were able to read through the story together.



...and still to come, The Christmas Story post! And yes, to all those wondering, we did receive a white Christmas -- beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Sleet came first (this is Oklahoma, after all), and then about 5 or 6" of the white stuff. It's been called the Blizzard of 2009, but my husband and I can't help but chuckle every time we hear it called that. We did live in Minnesota, and our little "blizzard" would be a typical winter day up there!