Each Bough Doth Hold its Tiny Light

On Christmas Eve, the Jesse tree magically sheds its paper decorations for the infinitely more classy hodge-podge we unpack from boxes. But before any of this could happen, we needed to finish making the kolacky-- a Polish favorite from my youth. I hadn't made it in quite a few years, so I needed Susannah and Piper to lend a hand. Su rolled up most of them, and she was a sight to see.



Millie just wanted it all to be done so that we could decorate the tree already.




At last! The lights came first, of course.




Piper mistook them for a net, but she soon figured things out.







Ah, Millie. The kolacky are done!



The tacky hodge-podge came tumbling after.








Lastly, we unpacked the holiday moustaches. So festive!




And only then, after I tucked the wide-eyed children under lots of covers, did I add the candy canes.


Somehow, it always becomes a thing of beauty.