Did the thing

 Back at the beginning of the month, I was even questioning if I wanted to put up a Christmas tree or not - I'm so busy, and so tired, and the world is an ugly mess and maybe there's not much to celebrate?

But then on the weekend I put up the lights over my door, and after getting a lot of stuff done this morning at school (and having no after-2 pm obligations) I decided to come home and put the tree up.

(Actually it was closer to 4; I had stayed over longer to take care of a couple future things, including preparing an exam for next week). 

And I had to do a little cleanup first, and after I cleared a spot I decided to vacuum. And I moved the critters normally on an upholstered side chair I don't really use so I could put some of my holiday ones out:

 Some of those I've had a long time. That bear in the top hat was to commemorate the year 2000, so I've had it 25 years now. The Grinch was from my niece; when she was fairly small and they were coming to my mom's for Thanksgiving she saw it somewhere (maybe they stopped to eat at a Cracker Barrel?) and decided I needed an extra Christmas present. The bear in the green sweater is an Aer Lingus souvenir; back around 2004 when my parents traveled to London they flew Aer Lingus and apparently they had a "shop cart" on the plane, and my mother decided to buy the bear for me. 

I did put up the tree. I had to stop and take a break to eat; I got very weak and shaky (it sometimes happens between 4:30 and 5, if I haven't eaten much for lunch). But then I got it up and even got the lights on before I washed my hair for the night:

I debated whether to put the ornaments on tonight or wait, but tomorrow is Board Meeting so I will have zero personal time, and I'm not sure what's up for Thursday (if I don't have some kind of surprise campus meeting I need to take my car for an oil change, and I have to wait there, they don't do loaners), so I went ahead and did it.

It took me almost an hour and a half because I put a LOT of ornaments on, and sometimes I move ones around to make places for other ones to fit in. But I got it done, or at least done for now:

 

There are some new ornaments this year. A friend from Bluesky sent me the Bingo and Chilli ornaments LAST year and I put them on now

 

And a Miss Piggy in her Pigs in Space outfit that I found online and ordered

 And lots of old favorites, you can see the Hudson clocktower one I bought from an Etsy seller, and the My Little Ponies, and mixed in there are a few ornaments I've had close to 25 years at this point:

 I'm glad I did it now. I could have done it on Saturday, but now Saturday is freed up if I have things I need to work on - or if I decide I want to go and do something (this is the last weekend before I travel for Thanksgiving, so if I'm looking for any additional "regional" Christmas gifts, now is the time). And I haven't been antiquing in literal ages and maybe I want to go?

But yeah, the world's still a mess but the Christmas tree does help remind me of good things.