Robert the Llamabutcher reposts his Christmas decorating rules. I haven't broken them all, and given my druthers I'd break even less, but still -- I'm not up to cranky and hidebound llama standards.

1. Outside Decorations -- we do pretty well. A simple wreath on the door with pine cones and a red plaid bow. We might do some garland on the porch. We hung a Moravian star light in the attic window. But we broke the big rule, in that our greenery is fake.

2. Interior Decorations -- always done by us and never a decorator. Again though, fake -- nice fake, but still fake. Actually, we do very few. A few snowflakes here and there and a bit of garland on the staircase railing. The Boy and I usually cut paper snowflakes and tape them to the panes of the French doors.

3. The Tree -- Fake. I love real trees and The Boy is demanding one. When we lived in Alaska we acquired a fake tree because real ones are either pathetic and bring you a mid-winter bug infestation or they cost a fortune. We later were given a free pre-lit 9-foot, and not having to string lights is nice. I think we'll return to real trees as soon as our children stop eating everything in their paths including pine needles and bark.

Our ornaments are becoming too numerous, but are, in my opinion, nice. Justin has a small collection of airplanes -- my favorite being the B2. We have a lot of moose, caribou, bears and other woodland creatures made from wood and metal, some stars and snowflakes and other things of that nature and some how the children have wound up with several hummingbirds each. The ornament I hate the most is a string of footballs given to The Boy by a sweet little old lady who is no longer alive. Hard to get rid of that one, but I try to put it in back. My favorite ornament is probably a moose made out of leather, though I'm also partial to the bison we got at Yellowstone.

We put a Moravian star on top.

4. Timing -- We're on the early side, but never ever before Thanksgiving. Unlike my husband's relatives who decorate for Christmas two weeks before Thanksgiving.

5. Miscellany -- Stockings for everyone not just the children. We don't have a lot of Christmas music playing around here. In fact, I think we own four albums.

My favorite is either the bluegrassy one called O Christmas tree or The Chieftains' The Bells of Dublin. We also have one album with the usual collection of Bing, Nat and the rest and a classical album of the usual Nutcracker and other such things.

So, I'm not following the rules too well, but I think I have a good excuse. I grew up not celebrating the holiday at all and I'm doing a lot better than some of my relations by marriage where flashing lights, multiple singing things going off at once and generally too much decorating -- down to the Christmas toilet seat covers reign.

One thing Robert doesn't mention is when presents can go under the tree. We used to put them under as things arrived or where wrapped. With some many destructive and curious hands, I think we'll wait until after everyone is asleep on Christmas Eve.