Starting over

 Sunday afternoon I dug out some strands of white lights and very gingerly stuck them in the branches of the Christmas tree...without taking stuff off the tree first. I'm not happy with the result. It's way too dim, and the ornaments look all disarranged and wonky, and the lights themselves are a cool white when I prefer warmer white lights. Since the tree is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season, I'm going to redo it all.

This morning after I finish my coffee, I'm going to take a shower and head out to buy some new string lights. Then, later this afternoon, I'm going to take all the ornaments off and have the tree stripped bare by the time Gregg gets off work. I'll get him to help me add the new lights and then redecorate the tree. It's going to be a little work, but then it will be fixed, and I'll be happier. I don't want an ugly, dim tree!

So, that's how we're going to resolve the tree issue. Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last post. I'm just grateful we didn't find out about the issue by having a fire! 

Yikes! What would you do?

Gregg got home from work late last night. I had the Christmas tree lit up along with all the other lights we've strung around the house for the holiday. We sat at the table after dinner, talking and enjoying the sparkle and shine of it all. 

After a few minutes, Gregg looks at me and says, "Do some of the lights on the tree look...different...to you?"  

I saw what he meant immediately. A whole section of lights around the upper middle portion of the tree were suddenly a brighter, whiter white than the rest of them. It looked really odd. Then he got up and went over and touched them.

They were burning hot!

The lights that looked normal were warm, but these were almost too hot to touch. We immediately unplugged the tree, let things cool down, and then tried plugging it back in. Same thing. Most of the lights were normal, but in that same area the bulbs were a brighter white again and they immediately got hot to the touch again.

So much for our pre-lit Christmas tree. We can't risk a fire!

Gregg suggested leaving the tree unplugged and covering it with separate strings of lights. The only problem with that idea is that we'll have to take everything off the tree, add the lights, then re-decorate it. That's an awful lot of trouble. But I'm not sure what else to do if we want to have a lit Christmas tree this year. And if it's not lit, what's the point?

Sigh. What a pain in the ass. Part of me doesn't even want to bother, but I'd probably regret it on Christmas Eve.

What would you do?

Kicking off the holiday season

 For my friends who celebrate, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! It was really good at my my house. We got up early that morning and took George over to McLeod Park for a good walk. It's too bad we have to cross a very busy highway to get to it; otherwise we could walk over, it's so close to home. The drive only takes about 3 minutes. It's a pretty park with lots of space, and George loves it.

Then we came back home and I spent the next few hours cooking. I made a pretty good spread for two people, and it was all delicious, if I do say so myself.

Menu: Roast Turkey Breast, Hasselback Potatoes, Cornbread Dressing,

 Cranberry Mandarin Orange Sauce, Green Beans, Sweet Potato Souffle. 

A close up of the Hasselback Potatoes. This was my first time trying this recipe, and we liked it a lot!

And later, there was pie: Pecan (my favorite) and Cherry (Gregg's favorite). The cherry pie looks like hell but it tasted good.

The best part about cooking this meal was that I got to share some of it with our neighbor, Heather. She's single and doesn't have much family, so I sent her a text asking if she had any plans for a Thanksgiving meal. When she said she didn't, I offered to drop off some plates of food and she gladly took me up on it! I loaded three plates with enough food for two meals and took them over. An hour later she texted me and said, "OMG this is amazing! I can't stop eating!! The sweet potato casserole is just like I make it, just like my mother and grandmother would make it and with the marshmallows on top!! This has made me have a Thanksgiving Day!!" 

I can't tell you how happy that made me! My husband is a huge fan of my cooking and he always looks at me like I've worked some kind of magic when I make a big festive meal, but it's a lot of work to cook for just two. It felt so good to share our meal with a friend! Later in the evening when the pies were done I texted Heather again and asked her if she was ready for dessert. Within seconds she responded: "Yeeeeesssss!!" and walked over to meet me at my front steps. I gave her two slices of each pie and some more sweet potato souffle since she liked it so much. Another good thing about sharing our food was it cut down on the leftovers which we always tire of pretty quickly. We had some of everything again yesterday, and today there's just enough sliced turkey left to make a couple of sandwiches. Everything else should be finished off by tonight, too. Perfect. 

So that was our Thanksgiving and then yesterday we went back to the park, walked George a couple more times around our neighborhood, relaxed, and then PUT UP THE CHRISTMAS TREE. In November! We've never put up the tree so early, and I feel kind of weird about it, but it looks pretty. We started off by pulling out the tree and all the boxes of ornaments from the closet in the office/Marco's room. We'd already decided to clean out that closet and to start utilizing the attic for decoration storage, and since we had everything out we figured, what the heck. I took a photo of it this morning because the lights look so nice on this cloudy, gray, chilly day. 

Oh, and our dryer died this morning, because of course it did. It wouldn't be the holiday season without an unexpected expense popping up! So now I know what I'm getting for Christmas. Ho ho ho.

Small

My life feels awfully small sometimes, but even so, it's a comfortable, cozy kind of life.



Sweet Ginger stayed close by while we put up the Christmas tree Sunday night.



The Christmas tree this year. It makes me so happy.

A closer look...

.....at our Christmas tree! My previous post didn't show the ornaments very well.

We have quite the collection--here are a few of our favorites.

You'll notice a lot of fish and bird themed ones, for obvious reasons.

The star topper is new this year. 

Nicky was our beloved Cocker Spaniel that died right after Christmas in 2006. Gregg's nieces and nephews gave him ornaments almost every year when they were very small. I believe this one dates back to about 2003.

Another ornament for Nicky. For several years after he died, I couldn't bear to put these on the tree,

but it's been long enough now that seeing them only brings back happy memories.

Glitter fish.

Goofy pink fish ornament--a gift to Gregg one year when I worked for Pier 1 Imports.

Look! It's Santa!

I also collect rabbits, and this was a gift from Gregg's mom one year.

A "Li Bien" ornament from Pier 1.

My grandmother gave me this over the summer when I went to visit her. It's a Marjolein Bastin

ornament--I especially wanted to show this one to my friend Terra. Isn't it sweet?

It's a major award!!!

Careful, kid...you'll shoot yer eye out!

I love silver decorations and glass icicles. I have a big collection of both.

Our tree is stuffed full!

Seventeen

After 17 years of working (and working hard) in retail over the holidays, I can't even process the fact that I have 17 days off over Christmas this year. Today is my first official day off, and we go back to work on January 2. I'm beyond grateful for my new job.

Here's the Christmas tree at our house this year.

It's time!

December is here!

For the first time in years, I'm actually excited about celebrating the holidays. There's only two more weeks of school before our winter break and then I have two weeks off!! Our last day is Friday, December 15th, which is a half day for the students. Once the kids leave, we're having our staff Christmas party, and after that I won't have to go back to work until January 2!! I'm really excited to be getting a long holiday break for the first time in my adult life, especially after 17 years of working in retail.

The holiday fun has already started at the school. There's a giant 12-foot Christmas tree in the lobby, a smaller (but still big) tree in the library, and, as you can see, huge sparkling wreaths on the front doors. We're adopting four families of children through DSS and buying gifts for them, which is a really nice thing to do and something I'm happy to participate in. Several offices are decorated with tiny trees, garlands, and strings of lights. I'm planning to add some decorations to my desk next week, and I'll post a few pictures of it when I do.

At home, we've decided to finally buy a pre lit Christmas tree this year. That's what I'm planning to do this morning--go pick out and buy a tree. Tomorrow while I have the house all to myself I'm going to spend the day putting up the tree and decorating the rest of the house for the holidays. Now that we're into the month of December, it feels like it's time!

What about you? When (and how much) do you decorate for the holidays?

Our little tree

Our little Christmas tree has been up for over a week, and I finally got some pictures to share!

It's a very small tree, with only a few sturdy ornaments that can withstand Marco's attentions. Still, it makes our kitchen and den cheerful, and I smile whenever I come  home and plug in the lights after a long day at work!

 

 

Glitter fish.

We own lots of bird ornaments.

Santa has dreadlocks!

 

Marco loves the tree.


 

Christmas is one week away!

Marco and the Christmas tree

A few days ago I finally got some  lights for the little Christmas tree I bought and put it up. We decided to put it in the corner between our kitchen and den this year instead of the living room, which means we get to see and enjoy it more (the living room windows have a better view of the street, but we're rarely in that room). This placement is also very close to Marco's cage, and it turns out that he loves the Christmas tree.  Really loves it. From the moment I plugged in the lights he began to "ooh" and "ahh" with a few "woo hoo!!"s thrown in for good measure. He sang snatches of his little song (a silly tune we invented when we first got him) and flew over to the tree and clung to it once or twice while I was working on it. I never considered that a parrot would enjoy looking at a Christmas tree as much as he has! He's like an adorable toddler that's excited by all the lights and sparkly things.

I haven't finished decorating the tree, because I've had to sort through ornaments to find only the unbreakable ones. With Marco nearby and fascinated with everything I dare not use any fragile or cherished ornaments. Tomorrow I plan to go through some more boxes and put the finishing touches on the tree, and then I'll post pictures. In the meantime, here's a picture of the little guy last week hanging out with me in our office.




Marco is always dressed in Christmas colors.

Three weeks!!

It's only three weeks until Christmas, a fact that  occurred to me this morning with a tiny twinge of horror. I somehow had failed to notice it was getting quite so....close.  How have I missed this? The following is a list of the holiday preparations I have made thus far, as of December 5th:

1. Gifts bought/made: 0 (unless the Of Monsters and Men CD I bought myself yesterday counts, haha)
2. Holiday cards mailed: 0
3. Plans made for Christmas Eve goodies and Christmas dinner: 0
4. House decorations up: .50

All I have really accomplished so far is buying a super cheap small fake tree. We put it together the other night, then realised we only have two strands of lights that work. We'll have to go buy some before we can finish decorating the tree. Right now it's sitting in our living room looking bare and kind of forlorn. As for holiday cards, I have bought some and even filled out a few. I still have to finish writing them, though, then find all the addresses for the envelopes, and then mail them. Gifts will have to be small, simple, and mostly homemade this year (and for only a few select people) as we are still trying to recover from GB being out of work for so long. Small, simple, and inexpensive gifts take more thought and time than regular gifts, though. I have a few half formed plans, but I definitely need to get started soon. On everything.

I can't believe the holidays are only three weeks away! How are your holiday preparations coming? Am I the only one that's so far behind?

O Christmas tree

December is here, and I am finally in the mood to do a little bit of decorating. I just went out and bought a super cheap little fake Christmas tree to put up. It's small (only 6ft by 3ft) and it won't ever be as nice as a live tree, but it will serve the purpose of lighting up our living room with some holiday cheer. And more importantly, there won't be any danger of a repeat of the Ghastly Tree Incident of '10, in which the huge live tree we had picked out went crashing to the floor one day, creating an ugly mess of fir needles, water, and broken ornaments in our carpet. I had to call a neighbor in to help me right it, as I was alone that day and it was too big and unwieldy for me to fix without help. It soured the whole experience for me that year!

 

Hopefully the cheap little tree I bought today won't end up looking too much like a Charlie Brown tree! I will, of course, be posting pictures either way!