Deserialize XML into ArrayList

[Richard]

I am trying to take an XML snipit like the following:

<project>
<stuff1/>
<stuff2/>
</project>
<project>
<stuff1/>
<stuff2/>
</project>
<project>
<stuff1/>
<stuff2/>
</project>

And deserialize it into a simple ArrayList. I would prefer to do this
without a special class to deserialize into, I do have the "project"
class setup. I would also prefer to not wrap these items in a root
node, but can easily do that, and have tried.

Here is my best attempt so far:

XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer( typeof( project) );
ArrayList projects = new ArrayList();
XmlDocument pxml = new XmlDocument();
pxml.LoadXml(inputXml);
foreach (XmlNode project in pxml.ChildNodes)
{
if (!(project is XmlElement))
{
continue;
}
projects.Add(xs.Deserialize(new XmlNodeReader(project)));
}

In most of my attepts I get the following error:

<project xmlns="> was not expected

Thanks,

Richard