Pretty little tree.

In Norway it is custom to decorate for christmas (including putting up the tree) on december 23rd. Little christmas eve, as it's called here.

But Love and I never do because that's my sister's birthday and that leaves no time for decorating. This year we've gone a bit radical though. We put everything up yesterday! It feels so naughty, but that was the only time we could do it this year with him working his ass off to get the holidays free from work, and I have to step in at work too. AH! When does the relaxing start already?

Amidst all this hectic, an elf named M dropped a parcel in my mail box yesterday. That is, the mail elf who delivered it actually forced it into the mail box so that it got jammed in there and we had to bend the whole mail box apart to get it out! Seriously, mail man, if it doesn't fit going in, it won't come out either! So now we need to get a new mail box... Or try to duct-tape the old one. I am slightly pissed at the mail man, but then again, I was absolutely delighted when I opened the parcel. M had sent me a new dose of the Tazo tea I love so much (and can't get my hands on here in Norway) along with adorable snow man stuff (soap and shower poof, now my bathroom can look festive too!) and a cd with several Sarah McLachlan mp3s. M, you're a saint!

Now then... Onto the christmas tree!
This year we went for a small one in order to fit it and visitors in our dining room.

Here it is:



And this year's new ornaments:

This and the penguin below was Love's gift for me when I was done with my exams. They're from "Accessorize" and they're pretty adorable if you ask me.



But the coolest of them all was the "Nightmare before Christmas" ornaments we ordered from play.com. It's one of my favorite movies, and although my mother in law will probably tilt, these ornaments will hopefully be with us for many many years to come.


The Jack-santa had broken three of the four fingers when it arrived, so I had to play around with glue again. Not the dries-in-two-seconds kind this time though, more of a 15 minute hold-and-press kind of glue.






The glass snow crystal is also new. I got them this summer on sale. Go figure... But when I get it dirt cheap, why not buy it a little ahead of time and tuck it away? If you're lucky, you forget that you got it and get a lovely surprise like I did ;)



The brass classic ornaments come out this year also.



Wooden snowmen are also new of this year, curtesy of Lidl for 30 kr for one box of 15 snowmen.



And I even had time to decorate the gingerbread people yesterday. This one got a heart-y dress (by the way, I did the loony face on purpose. The pretty smiley face got old after a couple of cookies).



And last, but not least, the ginger bread mansion. A bit lop-sided and sticky, but it smells lovely and looks even better when the faerie-lights inside are lit.