Making A List, Checking It At Least Twice!

I forgot to mention, in my last post, that I'm also managing the Advent calendar by myself this year.  Usually, we take turns adding ornaments, but it's just too much hassle each day trying to get everyone to appreciate the holiday spirit and be part of the festivities for 25 days straight.  Works better when I can offer holiday "spirits," to get chores done, and that just doesn't seem right at 8:00 a.m.

We have an advent calendar that my mother made for the boys when they were little.  It's sort of like the one pictured here, but a little worn and some of the ornaments have broken a bit.  And, each ornament has a safety pin that holds it to the tree.  In an attempt to make it look "clean," I pin from the back.  A nicer look, but as of day 20, today, I have pricked my finger at least 20 times trying to get the darned things attached to the calendar.  "Sigh," it's tradition. I would have taken a picture of ours, but the camera batteries died after it was left on all night.  I went to use the battery charger.  That had burnt out, due to whatever short has taken place in the outside lights.

Speaking of the outside lights, I did manage to take the whole light unit apart only to find that it's just fine...must be something with one of the strings.  I was able to put a red light bulb in the unit, so at least we have some light at the entrance and left the strings unplugged, until I can get time to check them out.  I had forgotten the reference of a red light at the entrance to some.  I find that a number of cars slow down as they go by the house; several police vehicles included, who seem to peer diligently as they pass.

Anyway, here's what the house looks like now, on the left (sort of).  Festive, right?  Hopefully, we'll have some bright, multi-colored, lights going again soon.

The Christmas cards, you ask!

Yes, we did a marathon writing and signing, trying to personalize each card, and then addressed, stuffed with our annual newsletter, licked shut, stamped, and sticking a seasonal seal on the back.  Several cards had to be reopened, as by the time we got around to doing some of the "extra" work with each card, we forgot who to address them to.

But here they are, ready to be mailed.  The wife loves mail!

Hmmmm...guess I forgot that step...oh well, there's always tomorrow.  Does anyone know if the Post Office is guaranteeing next day delivery for regular mail?

Tomorrow is an important day.  First day of winter, Mayan collapse day, shortest day of the year, and the day I take cookies to work.  That marathon "wrapping of the cookies" took place last night.  Last Sunday, I made the cookie dough.  Monday, I rolled it all out and using my Christmas cookie cutters, I cut and baked 97 dozen cookies.  Yep, 1164 cookies that made it to the oven...probably lost another dozen in process, but it is a family Christmas record.  Took a breather for a couple of days to go to work (to pay for all of this and more) and then last night started the decorating process.

All of the cookies get laid out on tables, I mix the icing, bag it, squeeze it, try to make some sort of lines on each that looks like something.  Using red and green frosting helps...solves about 90% of the holiday guessing.  Is that a Christmas cookie?  It's red and green...must be.  I work off the abstract method of icing; sort of follow the lines, squiggle here and there...makes for a quick event...got them all done inside of four hours.


Here are some pictures of that event.

Tonight, I wrapped cookies by the dozen in baggies and tied with string to take to work as gifts.  I will sit in front of each recipient and make sure they eat them.

After all of the hard work I put into them, I want to be sure they enjoy them, as I stare at them intently and keep asking them if they like them!

It's really not a holiday without some pressure, you know.

Four days before the eve and I'm trying to think what else needs to be done.  If I get those cards out and fix those lights...oh yeah, the tree!  We got it up off the street and into the house and it's standing up!!!  I have an hour or so before bedtime tonight, maybe I can get some lights on it (if I can find them and they still work!).

We are actually planning on decorating it by week's end.  We have to plan to do it, or come Tuesday why bother?  I could just drag it out on the deck, at that point, and hang bird seed bells from it and let nature take it's course...there's a thought.

Still, something missing.

Shopping!!!  I guess there are folks here who are expecting gifts.  Bummer.

You see, that's one thing that's wrong with Christmas.  People expect me to buy them gifts.  Isn't it better to give than receive?  I am ready, willing and able to receive to make the holiday more meaningful for others who want to give and who will benefit from that process.

Okay, guess the stores will be open 24/7, for the next few days, and I do have one day off between now and the holiday.  I'm sure I can find that one perfect gift for each person inside of eight hours.  Haven't failed yet (or at least I haven't been told that I have) over all the years.

Guess I should go attend to something on what is now a long list of need to do!  Might have two of those checked off???

 I'll let you know how things work out in a few days.

Merry Christmas!

How Many Days 'till Christmas?

We always thought, once the boys grew up, that we'd nail this holiday thing and have Christmas wrapped and ready by Thanksgiving and spend the month of December checking out holiday offerings at wineries and touring historic homes, all decked out for the season!

As of yesterday, here's our tree!

As you can see, we cut it down ourselves.  As you can also see, it fell of the car on the way home from the tree farm.  Somehow, the seventeen feet of rope I used, and the knots I learned in Boy Scouts, didn't make one bit of difference regarding the delivery.

You'll also notice that we don't have any snow.  The hopes of a white Christmas are in the hands of the weatherman.  At least it wasn't muddy curb-side, so I could just drag the holiday icon up the drive to the house.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get to that.

Homemade Christmas cookies are a tradition at our house and, as I usually make scores of them, I did think to buy the ingredients.  I put together about two dozen eggs, five pounds of butter, a couple of bottles of vanilla, and a nice bottle of Shiraz to get the project going...the Shiraz is to fortify me.

Of course, with work and chores around the house, including the now-flickering lights I strung on the front of the house which means a trip to the hardware store to replace the fixture so we can enjoy the aforementioned lights, I didn't get to far with the cookies.

Here's a picture of where they are now:

Last year, I made 72 dozen cookies and my son helped decorate them.

As you can see, I've only mixed a bit of what I intended to and just now am remembering that I didn't buy anything for decorations.

I'll get around to it soon, but first we have to get those Christmas cards going, as many have to be mailed to get to out of state addresses and with today being the busiest day of the United States Postal Service, if I don't hurry, I may get them there just as the postal clerks decide that it's time for their coffee break.

We did buy the cards and the stamps.  And, we have all sorts of address labels that we collect from about thirty different charities during the year.  Some have my name, some my wife's.  Once, a relative got a card from us with the wife label. Her first thought was that we divorced, as only her name appeared on the return address section.  My wife says it will take a lot more than the price of a postage stamp for me to get single again!

I'm guessing you want to see how far along I am with the cards...here they are:

As I look at them, I'm guessing I should try to find the envelopes..I know that they came with them. Of course, I also need our address book...we work very hard to keep that in shape so that we have every one's address right at our fingertips.  It's in this pile somewhere....

Right after I get all of that done, I'll start some shopping and then get down to the task of wrapping everything.  Note to self: hope wrapping paper isn't with the address book.

Maybe when the kids were small we had to get things done in a more timely fashion, as there were school concerts, and holiday parties for the Scouts, and church and family visits, and kids getting sick just before you head out the door.  These days we don't have all of that stuff and we probably think we got all that time back and can wait until closer to the holiday to start.  Strange thing...doesn't work.

Well, one more week to go and I'm sure we'll pull off a Christmas miracle...by actually having Christmas ready for Christmas.  I'll keep you posted over the next six days on how this goes...just checked, I did manage to remember to lay in some refreshments for the holiday and to provide me support as I gear up for the fest....


Now, where did I put that corkscrew???

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas...and Then Some!

I was looking around the internet looking for Christmas Trivia that I promised you, when I came across a web site entitled Christmas Facts. More trivia there than you would need in one sitting. So, I picked some out...if you want to see it all, go to this link: http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/xmastrivia.html It's a lot of reading, but it's a big holiday, it's been around for a few years, and you probably need something to do after all of the gifts are wrapped.   So, if you're up for the full read, grab an Egg Nog, sit back, and enjoy.  In the meantime, here are some highlights: "White Christmas" (1954), starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, was the first movie to be made in Vista Vision, a deep-focus process. "Wassail" comes from the Old Norse "ves heill"--to be of good health. This evolved into the tradition of visiting neighbors on Christmas Eve and drinking to their health. A Christmas club, a savings account in which a person deposits a fixed amount of money regularly to be used at Christmas for shopping, came about around 1905. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, Americans buy 37.1 million real Christmas trees each year; 25 percent of them are from the nation's 5,000 choose-and-cut farms. After "A Christmas Carol," Charles Dickens wrote several other Christmas stories, one each year, but none was as successful as the original. Although many believe the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year, it is not. It is the fifth to tenth busiest day. The Friday and Saturday before Christmas are the two busiest shopping days of the year. An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck. An average household in America will mail out 28 Christmas cards each year and see 28 eight cards return in their place. Animal Crackers are not really crackers, but cookies that were imported to the United States from England in the late 1800s. Barnum's circus-like boxes were designed with a string handle so that they could be hung on a Christmas tree. As early as 1822, the postmaster in Washington, D.C. was worried by the amount of extra mail at Christmas time. His preferred solution to the problem was to limit by law the number of cards a person could send. Even though commercial cards were not available at that time, people were already sending so many home-made cards that sixteen extra postmen had to be hired in the city. Before settling on the name of Tiny Tim for his character in "A Christmas Carol," three other alliterative names were considered by Charles Dickens. They were Little Larry, Puny Pete, and Small Sam. California, Oregon, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina are the top Christmas tree producing states. Oregon is the leading producer of Christmas trees - 8.6 million in 1998. Candy canes began as straight white sticks of sugar candy used to decorated the Christmas trees. A choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral decided have the ends bent to depict a shepherd's crook and he would pass them out to the children to keep them quiet during the services. It wasn't until about the 20th century that candy canes acquired their red stripes. Charles Dickens' initial choice for Scrooge's statement "Bah Humbug" was "Bah Christmas." Christmas presents were known in antiquity among kings and chieftains, especially on the European continent. However, they have been common among ordinary people in Iceland only during the past 100 or so years. Christmas trees are known to have been popular in Germany as far back as the sixteenth century. In England, they became popular after Queen Victoria's husband Albert, who came from Germany, made a tree part of the celebrations at Windsor Castle. In the United States, the earliest known mention of a Christmas tree is in the diary of a German who settled in Pennsylvania. Cultured Christmas trees must be shaped as they grow to produce fuller foliage. To slow the upward growth and to encourage branching, they are hand-clipped in each spring. Trees grown in the wild have sparser branches, and are known in the industry as "Charlie Brown" trees. During the ancient 12-day Christmas celebration, the log burned was called the "Yule log." Sometimes a piece of the Yule log would be kept to kindle the fire the following winter, to ensure that the good luck carried on from year to year. The Yule log custom was handed down from the Druids. During World War II it was necessary for Americans to mail Christmas gifts early for the troops in Europe to receive them in time. Merchants joined in the effort to remind the public to shop and mail early and the protracted shopping season was born. Electric Christmas tree lights were first used in 1895. The idea for using electric Christmas lights came from an American, Ralph E. Morris. The new lights proved safer than the traditional candles. Frankincense comes from certain Boswellia trees which, at the time of Christ, grew in Arabia, India, and Ethiopia. Tradition says that it was presented to the Christ Child by Balthasar, the black king from Ethiopia or Saba. The frankincense trade was at its height during the days of the Roman Empire. At that time this resin was considered as valuable as gems or precious metals. The Romans burned frankincense on their altars and at cremations. Franklin Pierce was the first United States' president to decorate an official White House Christmas tree . Frustrated at the lack of interest in his new toy invention, Charles Pajeau hired several midgets, dressed them in elf costumes, and had them play with "Tinker Toys" in a display window at a Chicago department store during the Christmas season in 1914. This publicity stunt made the construction toy an instant hit. A year later, over a million sets of Tinker Toys had been sold. George Washington spent Christmas night 1776 crossing the Delaware River in dreadful conditions. Christmas 1777 fared little better - at Valley Forge, Washington and his men had a miserable Christmas dinner of Fowl cooked in a broth of Turnips, cabbage and potatoes. Hallmark introduced its first Christmas cards in 1915, five years after the founding of the company. Historians have traced some of the current traditions surrounding Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, back to ancient Celtic roots. Father Christmas's elves are the modernization of the "Nature folk" of the Pagan religions; his reindeer are associated with the "Horned God," which was one of the Pagan deities. In 1647, the English parliament passed a law that made Christmas illegal. Festivities were banned by Puritan leader, Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry, on what was supposed to be a holy day, to be immoral. The ban was lifted only when the Puritans lost power in 1660. In Britain, eating mince pies at Christmas dates back to the 16th century. It is still believed that to eat a mince pie on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas will bring 12 happy months in the year to follow. In France, Christmas is called Noel. This is derived from the French phrase "les bonnes nouvelles," which means literally "the good news" and refers to the gospel. In North America, children put stockings out at Christmas time. Their Dutch counterparts, however, use shoes. Dutch children set out shoes to receive gifts any time between mid-November and December 5, St. Nicholas' birthday. In Norway on Christmas Eve, visitors should know that after the family's big dinner and the opening of presents, all the brooms in the house are hidden. The Norwegians long ago believed that witches and mischievous spirits came out on Christmas Eve and would steal their brooms for riding. In the Netherlands, Christmas centers on the arrival of Saint Nicholas, who is believed to come on horseback bearing gifts. Before going to bed, children leave out their shoes, hoping to find them filled with sweets when they awaken. In the Thomas Nast cartoon that first depicted Santa Claus with a sleigh and reindeer, he was delivering Christmas gifts to soldiers fighting in the U.S. Civil War. The cartoon, entitled "Santa Claus in Camp," appeared in Harper's Weekly on January 3, 1863. Jesus Christ, son of Mary, was born in a cave, not in a wooden stable. Caves were used to keep animals in because of the intense heat. A large church is now built over the cave, and people can go down inside the cave. The carpenters of Jesus' day were really stone cutters. Wood was not used as widely as it is today. So whenever you see a Christmas nativity scene with a wooden stable -- that's the "American" version, not the Biblical one. Long before it was used as a "kiss encourager" during the Christmas season, mistletoe had long been considered to have magic powers by Celtic and Teutonic peoples. It was said to have the ability to heal wounds and increase fertility. Celts hung mistletoe in their homes in order to bring themselves good luck and ward off evil spirits. Mistletoe, a traditional Christmas symbol, was once revered by the early Britons. It was so sacred that it had to be cut with a golden sickle. More diamonds are purchased at Christmas-time (31 percent) than during any other holiday or occasion during the year. Myrrh is an aromatic gum resin which oozes from gashes cut in the bark of a small desert tree known as Commifera Myrrha or the dindin tree. The myrrh hardens into tear-dropped shaped chunks and is then powdered or made into ointments or perfumes. This tree is about 5-15 feet tall and 1 foot in diameter. Legend says Caspar brought the gift of myrrh from Europe or Tarsus and placed it before the Christ Child. Myrrh was an extremely valuable commodity during biblical times and ws imported from India and Arabia. Originally, Christmas decorations were home-made paper flowers, or apples, biscuits, and sweets. The earliest decorations to be bought came from Nuremburg in Germany, a city famous for the manufacture of toys. Lauscha in Germany is famous for its glass ornaments. In 1880, America discovered Lauscha and F.W. Woolworth went there and bought a few glass Christmas tree ornaments. Within a day he had sold out so next year he bought more and within a week they, too, had sold. The year after that be bought 200,000 Lauscha ornaments. During the First World War supplies of ornaments from Lauscha ceased, so American manufacturers began to make their own ornaments, developing new techniques that allowed them to turn out as many ornaments in a minute as could be made in a whole day at Lauscha. Right behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the third-largest occasion for Americans to consume food, according to the National Football League. Santa's Reindeers are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. Silent Night was written in 1818, by an Austrian priest Joseph Mohr. He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be prepared in time for Christmas Eve. He was saddened by this and could not think of Christmas without music, so he wanted to write a carol that could be sung by choir to guitar music. He sat down and wrote three stanzas. Later that night the people in the little Austrian Church sang "Stille Nacht" for the first time. St. Nicholas was bishop of the Turkish town of Myra in the early fourth century. It was the Dutch who first made him into a Christmas gift-giver, and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus. The "Twelve Days of Christmas" was originally written to help Catholic children, in England, remember different articles of faith during the persecution by Protestant Monarchs. The "true love" represented God, and the gifts all different ideas: The "Partridge in a pear tree" was Christ. 2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments 3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity-- the Theological Virtues 4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists 5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which relays the history of man's fall from grace. 6 Geese A-laying = the six days of Creation 7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments 8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes 9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit 10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments 11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles 12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed The abbreviation of Xmas for Christmas is not irreligious. The first letter of the word Christ in Greek is chi, which is identical to our X. Xmas was originally an ecclesiastical abbreviation that was used in tables and charts. The actual gift givers are different in various countries: England: Father Christmas France: Pere Noel (Father Christmas) Germany: Christkind (angelic messenger from Jesus) She is a beautiful fair haired girl with a shining crown of candles. Holland: St Nicholas. Italy: La Befana (a kindly old witch) Spain and South America: The Three Kings Russia: In some parts - Babouschka (a grandmotherly figure) in other parts it is Grandfather Frost. Scandinavia: a variety of Christmas gnomes. One is called Julenisse. The best selling Christmas trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine. The Christmas season begins at sundown on 24th December and lasts through sundown on 5th January. For that reason, this season is also known as the Twelve Days of Christmas. The day after Christmas, December 26, is known as Boxing Day. It is also the holy day called The Feast of St. Stephen. Some believe the feast was named for St. Stephen, a 9th century Swedish missionary, the patron saint of horses. Neither Boxing Day or St. Stephen have anything to do with Sweden or with horses. The first Christmas card was created in England on December 9, 1842. The first commercial Christmas card sold was designed by London artist John Calcott Horsley. He was hired by a wealthy British man to design a card that showed people feeding and clothing the poor with another picture of a Christmas party. The first Christmas card said, "Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you." Of the original one thousand cards he printed for Henry Cole, only twelve exist today. The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531. The four ghosts in Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" were the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, Christmas Yet to Come, and the ghost of Jacob Marley. The movie "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (2000) features more than 52,000 Christmas lights, about 8,200 Christmas ornaments, and nearly 2,000 candy canes. The modern Christmas custom of displaying a wreath on the front door of one's house, is borrowed from ancient Rome's New Year's celebrations. Romans wished each other "good health" by exchanging branches of evergreens. They called these gifts strenae after Strenia, the goddess of health. It became the custom to bend these branches into a ring and display them on doorways. The poem commonly referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" was originally titled "A Visit From Saint Nicholas." This poem was written by Clement Moore for his children and some guests, one of whom anonymously sent the poem to a New York newspaper for publication. The poinsettia, traditionally an American Christmas flower, originally grew in Mexico; where it was known as the "Flower of the Holy Night". It was first brought to America by Joel Poinsett in 1829. The popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells" was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont, and was originally called "One-Horse Open Sleigh." The traditional flaming Christmas pudding dates back to 1670 in England, and was derived from an earlier form of stiffened plum porridge. The world's first singing commercial aired on the radio on Christmas Eve, 1926 for Wheaties cereal. The four male singers, eventually known as the Wheaties Quartet, sang the jingle. The Wheaties Quartet, comprised of an undertaker, a bailiff, a printer, and a businessman, performed the song for the next six years, at $6 per singer per week. The commercials were a resounding success. Theodore Roosevelt, a staunch conservationist, banned Christmas trees in his home, even when he lived in the White House. His children, however, smuggled them into their bedrooms. When Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, died on December 4, 1894, he willed his November 13 birthday to a friend who disliked her own Christmas birthday. Yuletide-named towns in the United States include Santa Claus, located in Arizona and Indiana, Noel in Missouri, and Christmas in both Arizona and Florida.

Christmas, One Thing at a Time!

These days, everyone always seems to be doing many things at once.  Even without a holiday, we're all multi-tasking.

I'm reminded of a quote from Gandhi, "There's more to life than increasing it's speed."  You might want to check out information about him...during this "season of peace," reading about his life it always a good reminder of what we could all do, not only this time of year, but year round.  Here's his bio from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi

Apart from the part of not slowing down and smelling the roses, trying to do several things at once might be bad for you. 

I read an article that pointed out that multi-tasking may have some downsides, including health issues, decreased mental clarity and productivity and, therefore, less efficiency.

Here's the link if you want to check it out yourself:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1205669/Is-multi-tasking-bad-brain-Experts-reveal-hidden-perils-juggling-jobs.html

During the holiday time period, it amps up.  Along with the job, the family (those you live with every day and those who join you for the holidays), housework, the cooking and cleaning, children, school, weather, sports, job searches for some, reading, writing, and the doctor and dentist visits that pop up at the most inopportune time, we also add in figuring out how to pay the holiday bills on top of the regular ones, and the last minute rush to get holiday cards out (and the guilt for ending last year with a promise to do it on time this year).

There are added arts and crafts projects, homemade gifts, cooking and baking, wrapping and decorating, tree shopping, going out for parties and meeting friends for drinks and meals, and a myriad of other things.

We all really know that we should slow down and focus on one task at a time, and savor the experiences.  Just today I received an email from "Daily Retreat and Renew," highlighting 9 De-Stressors!  Only 9, I can  handle that...you can visit their website where you'll get all sorts of tips about how to slow down, breathe, take in the immediate moment, and relax...try this link and you can get a daily reminder about being present in the moment (that's different from getting a present every moment, which is nice, but I digress):

http://www.healinglifestyles.com/index.php?page=healingtips&tipid=555

I do try to remember to slow down, but lest you think that I've gone over completely to the "calm side," read on...
On Saturday we went to the local Christmas Tree Farm.

My sister-in-law and a friend of hers join us each year, it's become a tradition, and we head out to cut down our own trees.  We were determined to find one quickly, as our guests seem to find a tree each within six minutes of arriving at the place, but our pace slackened as we, once again, ran into "The Goldilocks Syndrome."  This one is too big, this one is too small, this one is too dry, this one is too prickly, this one has a snarled trunk, this one has all of its branches on one side, this one...well, it goes on for quite a while until one of two things happen...and it's most likely a co-joining of we're sick of looking at trees and our standards being lowered (along with getting tired after tromping around the fields for two hours), but all of a sudden a tree calls to us...and one did.

Once my wife said, "This one," I dropped to the ground as quickly as I could (no, I didn't faint because she chose one) and sawed that baby down.  We got it baled (that's where they tie a big string around it to make it easier to deal with) and threw it in the car, tied two on top of my sister-in-laws car for her and her friend's trip home, and we were back four hours after leaving to get the tree (we only live six minutes away).

We put ours in its base and stood it in the house, in the approximate area of where it will be for the next six or seven weeks (yes, we keep it up a long time...makes that cold month of January a little more colorful and my wife swears it's February before you know it, because we do leave it up).

I also think it's better to leave it up that long as, by the time we take it down, all of the needles will have fallen off, the thing is as dried up as a prune, and it weighs practically nothing...real easy to toss out of the house!

The tree is actually a very good looking tree, sans decorations at this point.

In days gone by, I would have strung the lights on it, gotten out the decorations and by bedtime we'd have been done with it.  Not this year.  We're not multi-tasking any more.  Taking in the moment...basking in the glow of being present in the moment.

The tree stood bare for the night...it got a drink of water before bed, but that was it.

Sunday night, I put the lights on it.  Five strings.  Starting to look good.  We had been out shopping, had a late dinner, (we did those things separately...one at a time) and after I got the lights in place my wife asked me, with a look that seemed to beg a negative response, "Are we decorating tonight?"  "No," I said, "We'll do that tomorrow night or Tuesday if we have something else to do tomorrow."  No rush.  We might even wait until Thursday, if something else comes along...like having to turn the TV on, or a load of laundry...one thing at a time.

Given my new take on efficiency, I decided to make a list of things that need to done for the holiday so that I can attend to each one, one-at-a-time, with a calm presence, in order to maintain mental clarity.

However, before I started the list, I found I had seven minutes with nothing to do and I opened a rather large bottle of Shiraz.

One might now argue that something else may be affecting my mental clarity, yet I proceed with my list of things to do this week, one at a time.

     1.  Buy Christmas Cards.  I did spend three hours looking for cards I'm sure I bought last year, but now must focus and move forward, and go out and buy new ones.  I'll do that when I have time to drive to Kingston...as I don't live near a sidewalk that allows me to walk to a store to buy them.

     2.  Sign Christmas cards, address envelopes, affix stamp and send out last week!  I guess noting that they should have gone out last week isn't good karma, building negativity...they'll get out in plenty of time.  Don't forget to include holiday newsletter!

     3.  However, while thinking of it, invest in time machine technology so that those cards would have been out last week, as I planned.

     4.  Write family holiday newsletter to have to send out with cards last week.  I keep           slipping back...sorry.

     5.  Shop for butter, sugar and eggs for Christmas Cookies, to replace those same things I bought last week...the ones the the boys decided to use to make Egg Nog Beer....yuck.

     6.  Clean up the basement after the great Christmas Egg Nog Beer explosion...the house does smell "seasonal," but the stuff is starting to curdle on the floor.

     7.  Make Christmas Cookies.  Sixty dozen decorated sugar cookies, using Christmas      themed cookie cutters.  Mix dough, bake, roll and cut, make sugar icing, decorate each cookie, one at a time, breathing three times deeply after each cookie cutter application!

    8.  Unwrap two dozen gifts that I got a head start on earlier in the year...the ones that I
forgot to put tags on that I know have to open to find out what's in the boxes and who they're for.

     9.  Return three gifts I bought for the boys after they went shopping over the weekend and walked into the house to show me what they bought for themselves.

   10.  Re-wrap recently discovered gifts and replacement gifts!!!

    11.  Take down the outside Halloween decorations (what's left of the pumpkins might just
slosh away in this rain that we're getting) and search the house and shed for those darn outdoor Christmas Decorations.

    12. Which reminds me, call electrician to the have outlets that burned out last year
replaced.

    13.  Or, buy bigger fuses!

    14.  Cut pine branches to use in outdoor decorations and remember that the line that runs between the trees, about ten feet up in the air, is not a guideline to follow through the woods, but the main source of electricity to the house!

   15.  Decorate outside of house, when it stops raining.  Decorating and getting wet are two things, which lead to several more things, including a change of clothes, drying said wet clothes, and chancing electrocution.

   16.  Remember, one thing at a time!

Given my new attitude, that should keep me busy 24/7.  I re-read some of the de-stressor tips, and one of them indicates I should be getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night.

Now, I've never had 8 hours of sleep at one time, and I think this practice is going to cut into my production time, but slow down I must so I just have to review what needs to be done and re-calculate when I'll be ready for the holiday.

In looking over my list, I find that several things are missing, but I don't have time for that right now as I am planning on having a cup of tea.  Focusing solely on boiling the water, pouring, steeping, savoring, and washing the cup, it appears I'll tied up for the next hour or so.  Normally, I would be thinking about what's next, but that's not on my list.

So, before I put that water in the kettle, I'll take a moment to provide a rough guess that I will be ready for the holiday without a problem, if we can keep this tree up till the 4th of July!!!

Oh, and a last minute addition...my cousin just sent me this nice, calming Christmas video...enjoy!



More later...happy pre-holiday!

Christmas Past

I came across my Christmas newsletter from last year and thought I would share it with my blog readers.

There are several blog posts in the works, regarding the holiday season, that I'll share with you over the next few days.  However, to finish those and start this year's family newsletter, I am doing some very heavy research. 

Actually, my wife said I had to "get this place decorated, please, sometime before the holiday!" 

Along with awaiting the arrival of family for the annual Christmas Tree hunt...no shots have been fired, to date, but I'm sure I'll have something to write regarding that adventure soon...today, I'll be in the depths of the basement and the freezing environs of the outdoor shed searching for all the stuff I put away last year...where I stashed it so I knew I could find it (yeah, right!).

Here's Christmas 2009:

My therapist told me that it would be a good thing, this year, if I could take the time to envelop myself in the spirit of Christmas, relax and enjoy the holiday, and take comfort in the simply pleasant things of the season, giving and sharing as I went along. “Create and enjoy the holiday!”
 

What first? Decorations! Create the feeling of the season. We had pulled back a bit last year, but I stepped up to the plate and pulled everything out of the basement. All twenty two boxes. I was prepared for the effort. The crawl space we call a basement is rife with spiders and cobwebs, but I revved up for the challenge. 

What I wasn't prepared for were the mice that had taken up residence in the imported Swiss manger. I guess they took comfort in the hay and straw that made up the manger roof, and got some sort of nutrition by eating half of baby Jesus. The three kings appeared less royal, now that their clothes had seemingly been reworked into some sort of nest at the bottom of the box, and I'm guessing that the bed of ceramic dust was once the hopeful and happy shepherds! 

Oh well, not going to let this get me down,. Fortunately as I don't throw many things away, we have six other manger sets...onto the lights. Deep breath. Okay, three deep breaths.

The big box of lights. I opened it to find string upon string, that I am sure I put away one at a time, carefully wrapped individually, and all working when they went to sleep last time they were used, are now an intertwined mess of knots and snarls. Seemingly a Medusa shaped, moving mass of uncooperative lines, they appeared to get more involved with as I tried to free one from the other. 

After about three hours of pulling each string out, and lining them up for inspection, not a one would light. Pulling each bulb out and putting in a new one, with not a one responding, I figured it would be more in the spirit of the season if I gave them to the recycling center and gave more money to our country's retail effort. I only had to take one Lexapro after this, not bad. 

Not giving in to what others might see as a failure, I chalked the lights up to “maintaining the faith” and set off to find our tree, on which I would put all of the treasured ornaments we'd saved for over 25 years. 
 

No doubt, I've told you of our tree adventures before, but I wasn't going to think once about our “history.” The standing in the rain, the trudging of the hills for hours, or having one tree after another die on us within a week. Not going to dwell on the past. No, we had a plan. 

Outside our house, too close to it in fact, was a fine fir tree that had to come down and we elected to cut this one down to take off the top for our tree. The fact that it was thirty feet tall and we couldn't get a good eye on the top didn't stop us. Saw in hand, I took to the trunk and dropped that baby after twenty or thirty good swiping cuts. 

What I neglected to judge was that the height exceeded the space between the chosen place for it to drop to and the house. As I told my wife, that's why they sell glass for windows in hardware stores. Never mind the fact that I don't know how to put glass into a window, but is is available.  

After my call to my therapist, and one short hour of 'coming down,' I was back in the game.

It wasn't as big a deal getting the tree into the house as my wife might tell you (she can get very strident when branches are banging into furniture and knocking pictures and knick knacks off the wall). 

Within five hours I had that baby standing up (semi-straight) and the brand new lights were setting off against it really fine. I grabbed the three boxes marked ornaments and were surprised how light they were...figured all of this hefting had me putting on some muscle. 

It was only after I opened them that I remembered the crash of '07. Totally not similar to our current economic crashes, these were the two times the tree fell over in 2007 and demolished all of the good ornaments and collectibles we had. 

Another rush of giving came over me and I headed off to the store to give over more cash to buy new memories. They come in six packs, too. I know not to mix alcohol with my meds, so I try to rotate them...pills on the hour, alcohol on the half hour.

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas...not sure if it was the twinkling lights, the reflection off the new plastic ornaments, the swaying of tree branches (I'm sure I screwed that tree tight into the holder), the combination of Maker's Mark and Xanax, or the after effects of rum laden Egg Nog and Anafranil. 

Anyway, I was doing whatever I could to keep my spirits high. I'm sure it was a unseen broken step on the ladder, and not the mixing of Vodka and Halcion, that produced my fall. 

Fortunately, I landed in the tree and it cushioned the blow as we both went over. The miracle? Not a light went out, not an ornament was broken, and even though I was flat on my face in pine needles, my spirits were high.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a really good night. 

And, I can give you the name and number of my therapist if you need it to make your holidays truly memorable...and when you see Santa, please tell him that refills for me would be nice.

Christmas Poem, Far From The Sidewalk

Busy today, preparing for the holidays!  Not much new on the tree front, as per my previous post, but enough busy work around the house, decorating and such, to keep me busy and out of trouble.  Although, I did cut two fingers mopping the floor today...a story for another time!

I have a couple of things I need, but I have to get in the car and drive about two hours to get the stuff, as you may remember I don't live near a sidewalk where I can walk  to a store, so I did what I could here and will save up a bunch of things to get in one gas-guzzling trip later in the week.

One project I've been working on has me scouring past Christmas productions.  For twenty years, I've been publishing a family Christmas newsletter and including in each edition a poem of my creation.

So, I'll keep this post short, as you're probably busy, too, and share a poem from the 1990 Cunningham Christmas Chronicle!  Let me know if you like it!

Wrapped

Paper and ribbons, tags and bows, 

Scissors and scotch tape,
Where did they go?

Just used the foil, just had the bag,

Can't leave it like that,

It looks like a rag!

Plain paper, stripped, loose or strapped.
I'm beginning to wonder

Maybe I need to be wrapped!!!

Christmas Tree Quest, Part One

This year's search for a Christmas tree has taken an economic twist.

Seems the price of trees has followed the rise of gasoline prices (and everything else).   It must be the water used to maintain them during the year is costing more, or there's some new expensive fertilizer the tree farm association members are using that help the trees grow, or perhaps there's a new laser device or computer program that sends signals to the trees to aid them in maintaining their lush appearance, which in turn makes them more valuable.

I know that the trees that we'll look at to cut were planted a few years ago, so the tree itself wasn't replaced by a more expensive model, and I happen to know that you can get 100 starter trees for practically nothing so, once again, must be something else!

Perhaps the increase helps to straighten out the trunks, guarantees they'll last for more than a week, or perhaps these are unable to tip over after being fully decorated.  Any tree for more than $50.00 should be able to stand up on it's own for a few weeks, don't you think?  Wouldn't it be great to have a stand-less tree!  Where are all of those rockets scientists when you need them?  When the tree on the Space Station falls over, does it really fall over?  Hmmm....
 
Oh well, in the past I've had some experiences picking a tree and cutting one down (and I'll share some of those stories as the holiday approaches), but this is the first time I'm scouting for a tree, prior to our traditional tromp through the snow (hopefully, it's snow...several times it's been mud and that's not pleasant).

We saw an advertisement for a local tree farm from which we've chosen our tree for the past few years and the price went up about $15.00 from last year.  So, my wife told me that 'we' needed to start looking for a cheaper tree.

The 'we' part?  Means me.

We live in the country, you know not near any sidewalks (sigh!!!), so there are a number of farms, tree and otherwise, around us.  Armed with instructions to find a cheaper tree, I sent emails to a few, called a few, contacted a number of friends, and even drove way out on a country road that led to a farm where we cut trees 20 years ago to find that it's out of business, even though it's still advertised in our local Christmas Tree business directory.  

After conferring with local experts (those other persons who look for trees and those who grow trees), here's what I found, and let me know if you think this makes sense.

If you pick up one of the trees that the Christmas Tree farm personnel have cut and dragged to the shed, which they'll wrap and place on your car, you can get a tree for about $25.00. 

However, if you trudge through the snow, up and down the hills for hours on end to find the 'perfect' tree, cut it down, and drag it back yourself, you'll pay $45.00 or more!

Why the extra cost for a do-it-yourself?  I'm thinking it's the experience (a.k.a. liability insurance).

Doesn't make sense that the ingredients would cost more than a store bought cake.

Does make sense that if you experience a tree saw cut to a body part, while doing the deed yourself, that the farm owner might incur an expense.  Although, if you can now only count to nine that might limit your ability to come up with the total you're looking for.

Doesn't make sense that water, malt, yeast, and hops to make a keg of beer would cost more than a full one at the discount store.

Does make sense that the experience of getting caught in the mechanism that wraps the netting around the tree to encapsulate it so you can toss it on your car might become an expensive proposition for the tree vendor.  Although, there would be more seating room in the car and the 'netted' person would have quite the ride home atop the car!   

I did load a tree on a skid one year and, heading down a very steep hill with it, the whole thing took off quickly and I had a heck of a time keeping up with it.  I was nearly out of breath when I caught up with it at the bottom of the hill.  I can look back at that experience and guess I would have had the same sense of exhilaration coming off Space Mountain at Disney!  If I look at it that way, as in pure entertainment and exercise value, seems it's worth the extra bucks!

Well, we're going to find a tree and pay a reasonable price for it.  The fact that I've all ready put about $200.00 towards this effort, in time spent on the phone and on the computer determining prices and the amount of gas I used getting lost on the back roads searching for the Tree Farm of Christmas Past, does not diminish our goal of not handing over any more than we want to for our Christmas tree this year! 

More to come regarding this quest, I'm sure!

Happy Pre-Holiday!!!