Having a ball!

What is the deal with Christmas balls, huh?

I realize quite a few of mine fell victim to Daisy The Christmas Tree Munching Boxer From Hell, but that was last year, dammit! This year, I am not putting any glass balls on the lower three feet of tree, okay?

So, what’s the deal with the ball sitting in the box, all nice and neat, just like I packed it up last year, but it seems to be missing something? Hmmm… How in did it turn up missing this vital little part when it was happily packed in my Christmas box all year? Is there some Christmas Ball Mangling Gremlin in my garage?

I’m convinced that must be the answer, since I also found several of this variety:

Now, many of you are saying, “Great, Roxy, just great. I can see your messy living room, even the decorations and the neat dining room banister, all decorated for Christmas. I can even see you sparkly nail polish in a sort of bronzey, roundish kind of way - oh yeah, and that circular shape doesn’t do nice things for your hips, y’know. But what’s that got to do with the Christmas ball, huh?”

Well… Maybe this makes it a bit more clear?

The damn ball was cracked, in several places. As were several others.

Considering my boxes were stored neatly and safely on a shelf in my garage - and the contents wrapped and stored nicely - I’m convinced I have a Christmas Ball Mangling Gremlin or two.

I’m also fairly sure I’ve got a few in the box that stores my lights - Light String Tangling Terrors, I’m sure of it.

They’re everywhere. Anybody know a good exterminator?

And I didn’t even get rained on!

So much for genius ideas.

The BF - he of the Srooge-esque commentary, “why even bother putting up a tree when we’re going to be gone?” and “we’ll just do a little tree.” - yeah, that The BF… Him… Anyway, he and I went tree shopping earlier this evening… And it wasn’t raining.

Off to the tree lot we went, and gasped at the price of Nobles - eeeyikes! - and so we looked at the good old fashioned (and personally, more attractive) Douglas Firs. I was being the good girl and eyeballing the little 6′ trees while The BF - Mr. Scrooge, remember - headed straight for the big suckers.

He picked up one, discounted it, picked up the second and said, “Hey, Babe - this one looks good. What do you think?”

Now, I’m not going to turn my nose up at 9′ of Douglas Fir when it’s standing there, being held by that man. Nope. Stupid I ain’t.

Said tree came home with us - only to find out tree stand was missing some vital parts, so it sat in the garage all night.

That was Friday night.

Saturday afternoon found me with the repaired tree stand, the tree (which caused me to understand why I like Nobles better - the Douglas may look better, but they SHED!)

And thus our decorating was complete! Voila!

Photos to follow, of course!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree - you’re such a pain in the butt to me!

Most of my decorating is done the weekend following Thanksgiving - but the tree, oh that little marvel of evergreen loveliness, it waits.

It waits because I don’t do a fake tree, but I still deal with the big tub of water, the pine needles and the inevitable stains on my light beige carpeting (what idiot decided light beige carpeting was a wise choice? Probably the same idiot who thinks kitchen counter tile with wide grout lines is attractive. Grrr. But I digress.)

And so, the annual trek to find The Magic Tree.

Last year had The BF bah-humbugging his way through countless tree lots, refusing several trees - ones I found perfectly acceptable - only to finally settle his grumbly, Scrooge butt on a 10′ monster tree - tall and skinny (because our living room is TALL, but narrow). So much for Scrooge. Bah humbug my fanny, okay?

It did look terrific, though I did not have anywhere near enough lights for such a huge thing. (Love those dark spots! It didn’t help that I had to restring the lights thanks to the dog knocking it over…) In fact, somebody remind me to take pictures immediately after decorating this year. Last year, I waited - and the pictures of the crooked, bedraggled and slightly askew tree prove it.

This year, we plan on getting something smaller since we’re leaving town on the 21st and not returning till late Christmas day. Why buy a huge tree. Why buy a tree at all? Because I want one, dammit!

Now, keep in mind, I have a 1 1/2 story ceiling in my living room - which means, a short tree looks silly.

Also keep in mind, I have Daisy The Christmas Tree Ball Munching Boxer From Hell, whose presence mandates I keep the lower three feet of tree fairly naked.

Which means - if I put up a 6′ tree - I’m only going to really have 3′ of decorated tree. This does not please me. It does not please me at all.

So, my genus little brain thought - well, why not simply put the smaller tree up on a sturdy table? That way, the smaller tree looks bigger and Daisy TCTBMBFH doesn’t eat the lower three feet.

I’m either an evil genius, or incredibly stupid (since I can imagine all sorts of bad things happening to a smaller tree up on a table… Yipe!)

For now, I’m rearranging furniture and  figuring on going tree shopping this weekend.

In the rain.

Photos to follow… stay tuned…

Pretty sparkly stuff…

It’s a quiet Sunday morning - the kids are at church with their dad and the BF is out golfing, and I’m taking the opportunity to crank up the Twisted Christmas Tunes and put together a wreath.

Normally, Mom would have made one for me, but, since she’s not around anymore… I decided to do one myself. In keeping with my holiday theme, I kept it simple - just some beaded ribbon and sleigh bells on a lighted wreath.

Why on earth I got a lighted wreath is beyond me. I guess it will go next to my door instead on on my door (so, call me a dingbat, okay?)

And so…This:

and this:

Quickly became this:

Merry Christmas!

It’s a wonderful time…

…it’s the greatest time of the year! Time for singing and dancing and time for joy and good cheer! Look at all of those presents just waiting there by the tree…

OK, so I grew up with the Chipmunks, what can I say?

It is, however, nearly “officially” Christmas time - for my family, the “season” always started the weekend after Thanksgiving. That’s when the songs started, the decorations started going up and it started to feel a lot like Christmas.

This will be a Christmas filled with firsts for me - last year was my “first” after leaving my marriage. This year will be the first (since becoming a parent) without the kids (they’re spending Christmas with their Dad). It will also be the first without Mom.

I have already taken down the Halloween decorations and the boxes of Christmas goodies have been hauled out.

I love the trappings of Christmas - I love the ribbons, the garland, the lights and the tree! It has to be a REAL tree too, one that smells beautiful and drops pine needles on the floor.

I even love dealing with Daisy, the Christmas Tree Ball Munching Boxer From Hell (I need to dig that post up and put it here sometime…) whose presence mandates that I refrain from decorating the lower three feet of tree with anything I value.

Though many may mourn the passing of the “true” meaning of Christmas, lamenting the lack of nativity scenes and being curmudgeonly about the commercialism - those are things I can happily block out. I may despise the marketing minions who, in their quest for the almighty buck, decided to put Santa up next to the Mummy way back during the Back-To-School sales, and I may miss the beauty of the public nativity (we still have one around here, thank you!) I’m simply enamored with the whole season.

It just seems that people are nicer. There are more opportunities to reach out beyond yourself, and more people do it with joy.

And there’s more than Christmas. That very same commercialism took a minor Jewish holiday like Chanukah and brought it to the eyes of many. Sure, there is a down side, but I challenge anyone to not find peace and beauty in the Festival of Lights! Skeptics may accuse Kwanzaa of being a “made up” holiday, but how can anyone be a Grinch about celebrating family?

So this coming weekend, despite the fact that I have so much else that needs doing, the decorations are starting! The laundry can wait while I hang the stockings and the vacuuming will simply be done after all the garland is draped and the lights are lit.

I even get to add to my decorations this year. Last year it was pretty basic - tree, garland, stockings, ornaments and lights. What shall I add this year? More garland? More lights? Lots of candles?

And with that, some thoughts on Christmas, not from me, but from others who have put it so well that I simply could never hope to do better:

Mary Ellen Chase
Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

Robert Lynd
Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which men become entirely alive.

Joan Winmill Brown
Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given, when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.

Augusta E. Rundel
Christmas… that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance — a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.

And saving my two favorites for last:

Dale Evans Rogers
Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.

Dr. Seuss
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?