Decorating

As of this past Tuesday, we had very few decorations up. The tree was up and had extra lights on it and a bunch of glass 'globe' ornaments. That was it. And my husband was leaving for a business trip the next day...I was not pleased. I urged him (that's a nice way of putting it) to find the tree skirt. I was sure we had one. Somewhere. I have a zillion gifts ready to wrap and I guess my mind figured once the tree skirt was around the base of the tree, I'd get more motivated to wrap and put things under the tree? So my hubby goes up into the rafters of the garage and pulls down any and all boxes that might possibly hold Christmas stuff. I also rant about my nativity scene - where is it? Please find it before you leave....you get the idea.

I go upstairs. He comes in a bit later and says 'we've had a major disaster'. I felt the tears stinging my eyes because I knew - I just knew - that he had dropped the box of my nativity scene...my Avon Collectible porcelain bisque nativity scene that I collected over a 10 year period and have had since before we were married. I even bought a bunch of additional pieces to it in 2001 on eBay - which I remember because I was unemployed at the time and it was ridiculously cavalier of me to spend money on things we absolutely, positively didn't need. But I found so many pieces to my set that I never knew existed...and I bought all of them. Completed the set. It's beautiful...all white. I'll try to get a picture of it and put it up. Anyway, I was sure he was going to tell me it was a zillion, shattered pieces on the garage floor. But he didn't. He said 'I was trying to put the tree skirt underneath and I was leaning the tree and one of the welds snapped and the tree fell over. It's broken.

I said (I'm paraphrasing and my hubby is welcome to 'correct' the post with a comment) basically 'you will not leave for your trip until there is a tree in this house'. I didn't think there would be any artificial trees left - and assumed he'd have to run to SaveMart and pick up a $19.95 real tree to get us through. It would be tiny and old (having been out there since just after Thanksgiving) and I'd be frantically worried constantly that it would catch fire (one of the reasons we decided to change to an artificial tree - I worry a lot) but it would be a tree. If we didn't have two kids in the house who are all about 'tradition', I would have said 'let's just put up the nativity scene and skip the tree'. But we can't do that with the kids here celebrating Christmas.

I helped H. clean up the mess - shattered ornaments all over the place. We moved furniture, vacuumed everywhere.

J. headed to Target to return the tree (after re boxing it, of course). And 'lo and behold - they did have the same tree and it was on clearance! Saved us $75!

The tree is back up and we left it 'alone' until J. returned to decorate it. He also put up the outside decorations on the lawn - some spiral trees and our drum set. Put lighted rope around the grass. It's pretty and understated (and less expensive than what we used to do).

And, for the record: we didn't have a tree skirt. The 'thing' that J. was putting UNDER the tree was a felt circle that does ???. I have no recollection of buying it nor any idea why we have it...maybe it's made to reduce the 'effect' a tree stand has on your carpet? Anyway, that's what he was trying to put under the tree when the base broke. So I used some of our savings from now having a 'clearance' tree and bought a real tree skirt. I wanted the one that was $30 - it had snowmen sewn on it with all kinds of sequins, etc. But I realized the cats would just tear it to bits trying to get the sequins off - so I opted for the $15 one - it's like Santa's suit - fuzzy and red with a white trim. It looks great under the tree.

We are making some progress. Slowly but surely. We're just all in slow motion. So grateful to have a break to the frenetic pace we usually keep that we really aren't 'into' all the frazzle-making activities this year. I'm sure Christmas morning will change that...it usually does.

We hope to make it to San Fran sometime this week, though at the moment, we're having a challenge trying to figure out what to do with the dog for the day. It's way too long of a day to keep her kenneled all day here alone. And the kennel we usually take her to is full. So we'll try the other kennel we use sometimes and hope they can keep her for the day. If not, I don't know what we'll do - possibly just J. and the kids will go, which would be fine with me. Sure, I love going - but admittedly, I go to shop - and I don't really want to spend the money anyway. Hopefully, I can convince the men to go - and I'll happily stay home and dog sit for the day. I know they will protest. And if we can find a place to take her, I'll happily trek into the 'big city' with them...but if not, I'll be happy as a clam to just stay home - where it's warm.