There's no place like Dome for the Holidays

It's December already!  Wow, what the heck happened with November, it flew by.  Now we are coming onto the prettiest but most stress filled holiday of all, Christmas. Loved by children the world over and very few others.  And here at the Dome I have been busy decorating.  We decided to have the big family Christmas party this year at our house. There are many reasons for it but the main one is Jim refused to go anywhere else!  He is not into Christmas anyway and at least he can be comfortable in his own home. In fact I have been having a hard to time getting him to go anywhere any day! He is very reluctant to leave the property for any reason. I don't really blame him, it is so peaceful here.

One of the first decorations we made was decorated pine cones. Florida has loads of pine trees and the cones from them can be huge, well over a foot tall, more like king cone!  It is a different species of tree than northern pines and visitors are usually shocked at their size. My grand daughters Bri and Kaity painted them pink, gold and silver and sprinkled all the glitter I had all over them. Then we had a glitter fight from which I am still finding remnants.  Tara still had glitter stuck to her two days later.
When the serious cold fronts arrive fresh cones will be decked out in peanut butter and seeds for the yard critters.

Girls and king cones

Dickens people, I had to move the ghost of Christmas future to the background as the girls think he's creepy

My guardian horses all decked out

My late grandma's manger at least 100 years old!

There is a miracle I would like to share regarding the manger angel.  Every year I unwrap them I notice them a little more decrepit than the previous year. Several years ago I unwrapped the angel and all that was there was dust.  I was heartbroken as she was my favorite piece.  Hours later still bummed out I decided to go for a long drive. Tara and I ended up in Tarpon Springs. They have fantastic antique shops there so we did a little shopping.  In was upon entering one of them I got the shock of my life! There in a small display case was an exact duplicate of my angel!!  I stood in awe when the sales woman added, "isn't that sweet, it's from an antique manger". " I know", I replied, bought it, brought it home and it has looked exactly the same every year, still in fantastic condition.  If that wasn't a Christmas miracle I don't know what is!

Outside lights, all that I can reach, which at 4'9 1'2" isn't all that much

Our new flocked tree

close up of our flocked tree, when we first unwrapped it, it "snowed" in our house

My whole village 

So here we all ready, Christmas shopping and decorating is done. The cards have already been mailed out, nothing left but to enjoy the sights we only get to enjoy one month a year and look forward to my party!