it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

For the longest time, my sister used these red wooden beads to decorate her tree. We had gotten these years ago from our sister-in-law whose office was getting rid of them. This year, my sister decided that she was sick of them. So, I took them to work and decided to make my workspace festive.

I hung them around my cubicle entry, and lent some to my friends so they can decorate, too. While they looked cute by themselves, they actually didn't look that festive. I figured they needed stuff to hang onto them, and I thought I'd make paper ornaments and/or snowflakes.

Well, that same afternoon, my friend, Susan, and I took a little break and walked around campus. On the way back, we saw these liquidambar trees (I thought they were maple) with these dried spiky fruits hanging on them. And I thought these would be light enough to hang on to the beads (which in turn were only being supported by pushpins). Susan actually spied some fruits that were not dried up, and they had green and red hues. Perfect! Though these ones were heavier than the dried ones, they looked so much more festive and went much better with the beads. So up they went.